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THE 

NORTH   CAROLINA 

FLOOD 


July  14, 15, 16, 1916 


PRICE  $1.00 


Published  by 

W,  M.  BELL 

Charlotte,  N.  C. 


SUBJECT  MATTER 


The  Storm  Which  Caused  The  Flood. 
Pages  7-8. 

Storm  and  Flood  Reviewed  From  Charlotte. 
Pages  9-14. 

Asheville,  Biltmore  and  Nearby  Points. 
Pages  15-36. 

Morganton,  Marion  and  Vicinity. 
Pages  37-46. 

Bat  Cave  and  Chimney  Rock  Catastrophe. 
Pages  47-49. 

The  Yadkin  River,  Flood  and  Destruction. 
Pages  51-53. 

The  Flood  at  North  Wilkesboro. 
Pages  55-56. 

In  Wilkes  County  After  the  Flood. 
Pages  57-59. 

Land  Slide  That  Devastated  Entire  Valley. 
Pages  61-62. 

Staring  Death  for  Twenty-four  Hours.   Saved. 
Pages  63-65. 

The  Breaking  of  Lake  Toxaway. 
Pages  67-68. 


Of  the  great  rainfall,  landslides,  loss  of  life  and  property 
damage  in  the  North  Carolina  mountains,  and  the  over- 
whelming floods  which  swept  down  the  river  valleys,  July 
14,  15,  and  16,  1916,  the  "half  has  never  been  told,"  neither 
is  it  told  in  the  following  pages  but  a  review  of  this  great 
catastrophe  and  graphic  stories  of  its  principal  episodes  are 
herewith  presented. 

THE   PUBLISHER. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/northcarolinafloOObell 


BRIDGES  WASHED  AWAY  ON  THE  CATAWBA,  NEAR  CHARLOTTE. 
Abutments  left  of  Southern  railway  bridge  on  Gaston  county  side. 
(2)  Mecklenburg  side  of  same  bridge.  (3)  What  remains  of  Seaboard 
and  P.  &  N.  bridges  at  Mount  Holly.  Showing  fields  of  corn  and  all 
trees  and  banks  swept  away.  (Photo  by  Cushman,  Charlotte.) 


The  Storm  Which  Caused  The  Flood 


^y  O.  O.  JITTO 
U.  S.  Weather  Bureau,  Charlotte 


The  variety  of  disturbance  whicn 
caused  the  excessively  heavy  rains  in 
western  North  Carolina  July  14-16, 
1916  is  called  by  meteorologists,  "Tro- 
pical Hurricane"  or  more  often,  "West 
India  Hurricane".  This  is  very  des- 
tructive kind  of  whirling  storm  resem- 
bling much  the  well-developed  low 
pressure  area  over  the  land,  but  being 
much  more  pronounced  in  its  charac- 
teristics. 

Storms  of  this  type  usually  form  to 
the  south  and  southwest  of  a  sort  or 
semi-permanent  area  of  high  pressure 
which  occupies  the  middle  Atlantic 
Ocean  during  the  summer  and  early 
fall  months.  As  the  season  advances, 
they  develop  farther  and  farther  to 
the  westward  along  the  southern  limit 
of  the  northeast  trade  winds,  and  us- 
ually between  8  and  20  degrees  north 
latitude. 

The  near  approach  of  a  hurricane 
is  indicated  ~-y  the  appearance  of  thin, 
upper  clouds,  and  a  long  rolling  swell 
of  the  ocean.  After  a  slight  rise,  the 
pressure  begins  to  decrease  staedily, 
the  clouds  thicken,  then  the  pressure 
decreases  more  rapidly,  and  squally 
wind  and  rain  begin,  both  increasing 
in  intensity  as  the  centre  of  the  storm 
appraches  a  given  place.  With  the 
pressure  decreasing  rapidly,  high 
winds  and  heavy  rains  continue,  often 
for  many  hours.  Then  the  sky  sud- 
denly clears,  and  the  sun  comes  out, 
and   the   unsupecting   think   that   the 

VII 


storm  is  wholly  past.  But  not  so.  The 
sky  soon  becomes  darkened  with  dense 
clouds,  the  wind  shifts  and  rises  to 
hurricane  velocity,  and  torrential  rains 
again  begin.  These  conditions  prevail 
for  several  hours  more,  but  with  rapi- 
dly rising  barometer.  At  the  close  oi 
the  storm  the  cirrus  or  upper  clouds 
are  again  visible,  and  nothing  skyward 
indicates  that  a  severe  storm  has  pass- 
ed. This  kind  of  storm  ranges  in  size 
from  500  to  1000  miles  in  diameter, 
and  the  storm  progresses  from  one 
place  to  another  at  about  15  to  18  miles 
per  hour. 

On  passing  from  the  ocean  to  an  ex- 
tensive land  area,  the  hurricane  us- 
ually retains  its  destructive  character- 
istics  until  the  storm  is  wholly  inland, 
where  it  generally  decreases  in  strength 
and  often  entirely  disintegrates.  When 
the  center  of  one  of  these  storms 
moves  inland  and  northeastward  over 
the  Atlantic  coast  states,  places  on  the 
coast  will  experience  destructive  wii^- 
velocities,  extremely  high  tides,  and 
excessively  heavy  rainfall.  Should  the 
storm  move  to  the  Atlantic  coast  but 
with  its  center  over  the  ocean,  places 
on  the  coast  will  experiment  westerly 
winds,  and  the  tides  will  not  be  so 
high  nor  the  rainfall  so  heavy,  as  in 
the   former   condition. 

The  first  wireless  report  of  the 
storm  of  July,  1916,  as  received  by  the 
Central  office  of  the  Weather  Bureau 
at  Washington,  indicated  its  center  to 


8 


THE    NORTH    CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


be  nearly  400  miles  almost  due  soutti- 
east  of  Jacksonville,  Florida,  on  ttie 
morning  of  the  12th.  The  following 
morning  it  had  moved  about  200  miles 
in  the  direction  of  Charleston,  IS. (J. 
and  at  8  a.  m.  on  the  14th,  its  center 
moved  inland  almost  directly  over  the 
city  of  Charleston.  Thence  it  moved 
slowly  northwestward  till  it  approacb- 
ed  the  mountains,  where  it  re-curved 
to  the  northeastward,  passing  over  tbe 
western  portion  of  North  Carolina  and 
Virginia,  decreasing  all  the  while  in 
intensity. 

This  particular  direction  of  motion, 
produced  ideal  conditions  for  the  heavy 


rains  which  it  caused.  Such  a  motion 
resulted  in  northeasterly  winds  whicn 
shifted  to  the  east  with  the  near  ap- 
proach of  the  storm  and  to  the  soutn- 
east  after  its  center  had  passed.  These 
winds,  coming  from  off  the  Ocean, 
were  consequently  laden  with  vapor, 
which  condensed  on  approaching  the 
elevation  of  the  interior,  with  the  re- 
sultant torrential  downpour. 

The  rainfall  at  Charlotte  during  the 
passage  of  the  storm  totalled  5.15 
inches,  with  a  maximum  24-hours  tan 
of  5.04  inches,  this  being  a  new  record 
for  24-bours  rainfall  in  a  period  of  38 
years. 


Storm  And  Flood  Reviewed  From  Charlotte 


^y  W.  M.  BELL 


More  than  twenty-five  years  ago 
Bill  Smith,  an  old  man,  lived  in 
Yadkin  county,  near  Elkin.  When  he 
worked  he  was  a  well-digger,  but 
most  of  his  time  was  spent  around 
town.  He  delighted  in  telling  of 
great  things  that  happened  in  the 
country  "before  the  war"  and,  dur- 
ing the  war,  especially  of  how  the 
country  was  destroyed  by  Stoneman 
and  his  army  on  its  march  through 
that  section.  The  old  people  living 
there  said  lots  of  Bill's  yarns  were 
true,  only  "he  did  not  tell  it  bad 
enough."  The  children,  who  listened 
to  his  stories,  could  hardly  believe 
all  he  said  and  named  him  "Lying 
Bill"    Smith. 

That  was  almost  thirty  years  ago. 

Thirty  years  from  today  the  chil- 
dren, not  yet  born,  will  listen  to 
the  old  men — one  of  them  may  be 
named  Bill  Smith —  telling  about  the 
great  hurricane  and  flood  that  swept 
the  mountain  country  of  North  Car- 
olina July  14,  15,  and  16,  1916,  and 
the  description  of  this  great  flood 
will  sound  so  vmreasonable  that 
they,  too,  will  be  called  "Lying 
Bill"    Smith. 

IT  CANNOT  BE  DESCRIBED. 


It  happened  suddenly.  The  wind 
blew;  the  clouds  divided  and  poured 
torrents;  earth  and  boulders  that 
had  been  resting  on  the  mountain 
sides  for  hundreds  of  years  went 
tearing  down,  carrying  death  and  de- 
struction   in    their    wake;     branches. 


creeks  and  rivers  became  roaring 
torrents  sweeping  down  the  valleys 
taking  everything  before  them.  It 
was  all  over  in  three  days  but  in 
that  time  a  damage  of  millions  of 
dollars  had  been  done  to  farms,  rail- 
roads and  industrial  plants  and  a 
hundred  and  more  men,  women  and 
children  had  been  sent  to  eternity, 
some  of  them  swept  away  and  never 
being  heard  from.  Railroads  and 
factories  were  rebuilt  but  many  of 
the  farms,  ruined  and  washed,  will 
remain  as  marks  of  the  great  flood 
for  time  to  come. 

THE    BEGINNING   OF  THE    STORM. 


Early  in  the  week  of  July  10th, 
the  Government  Weather  Bureau  at 
Washington,  issued  warnings  stating 
a  storm  was  forming  along  the 
South  Atlantic  coast.  It  was  expected 
that  Charleston,  S.  C,  would  be  the 
center  of  the  catastrophe.  It  did 
strike  Charleston  but  only  small  dam- 
age was  done  to  that  city  and  sec- 
tion. Instead  of  keeping  to  the 
coast  the  storm  turned  inland  and 
Piedmont  and  Western  North  Caro- 
lina  was   in   its   direct   path. 

AT    CHARLOTTE. 


Thursday  morning,  July  13th,  rain 
began  falling  in  Charlotte  and  a  brisk 
wind  was  blowing.  It  continued  to 
rain  throughout  the  day  and  night. 
Friday  it  was  raining  hard,  the  wind 
was  rising,  and  by  nightfall  a  deluge 


IX 


10 


THE    NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


of  water  was  falling.  The  wind  was 
ripping  around  the  corners  of  build- 
ings and  in  the  open,  at  a  velocity 
of  more  than  50  miles  an  hour.  Dur- 
ing the  night  awnings  were  torn 
from  buildings,  signs  ripped  from 
their  holdings,  plate  glass  store 
fronts  smashed,  roofs  blown  away, 
homes  and  stores  flooded  with  wa- 
ter, and  beautiful  trees  uprooted  and 
those  that  remained  standing  shorn 
of  their  limbs  in  many  instances  and 
strewn  along  the  streets  for  blocks. 
Next  morning  the  city  looked  like  a 
"cyclone  had  struck  it."  This  was 
Saturday  morning,  July  15. 

But  Charlotte  and  vicinity  had  been 
let  down  easy.  Soon  reports  began 
to  be  received  that  the  mountain 
sections  were  in  the  grip  of  such  a 
storm  as  had  never  before  been  ex- 
perienced. Enquiry  at  the  weather 
buraeu  brought  the  information  that 
the  storm  was  central  over  Ashe- 
ville.  Telegraph  and  telephone  con- 
nections with  all  sections  west  of 
Hickory  were  down  and  only  a  guess 
of  what  was  going  on  farther  in  the 
mountains  was  left  for  those  who 
had  been  interesting  themselves  with 
the  path  of  the  storm.  A  dispatch 
from  Hickory  at  7  p.  m.,  stated  that 
the  rainfall  there  had  been  more 
than  ten  inches  in  the  ten  hours  and 
that  rain  v/as  still  falling  in  torrents. 
Soon  afterwards  the  wires  went 
down. 

THE         CATAWBA         WAS        THEN 
WATCHED. 

Saturday  night  at  midnight  when 
the  Southern  trains  arrived,  running 
late,  under  "caution"  orders,  train- 
men reported  the  Catawba  river 
rising  several  feet  an  hour.  One 
engineer  stated  that  when  he  cross- 
ed Broad  river,  near  Spartanburg,  It 


was  a  regular  ocean,  and  that  when 
he  reached  the  Catawba  it  was  a 
raging  torrent.  He  shook  his  head 
when  enquiry  was  made  as  to  the 
rainfall  up  the  river.  He  was  an 
old  trainman  and,  though  he  did  not 
say  so,  he  had  in  mind  no  doubt, 
many  troubles  that  had  already  be- 
fallen the  people  farther  up  the 
river. 

Later  developments  proved  that 
this  old  trainman's  thoughts  were 
right.  At  that  very  moment  a  de- 
vastating flood  was  tearing  down  the 
mountains  sweeping  everything  be- 
fore it  and  men  were  risking  their 
lives  in  the  rescue  of  any  unfortun- 
ates caught  in  the  quick  rise  of  the 
waters.  Sunday  morning  the  Cataw- 
ba was  running  well  over  twenty 
feet  high  and  still  rising. 

At  the  Seaboard  Air  Line  and  the 
Piedmont  &  Northern  railway 
bridges,  near  Mount  Holly,  thousands 
of  people  had  gathered  to  watch 
the  flow  of  the  river  and  its  rapid 
rise.  That  thousands  of  dollars 
worth  of  property  had  been  destroyed 
up  the  river  was  evident  from  the 
quantities  of  all  kinds  of  drift  pass- 
ing. Heavy  timber,  parts  of  bridges, 
parts  of  houses,  bales  of  cotton,  logs, 
big  trees  torn  from  their  roots,  hay 
stacks,  wheat  shocks  and  various 
other  kinds  of  drifts  floated  by. 
Live  stock,  chickens  and  rabbits 
were  seen  to  go  by  on  all  kinds  of 
rafts. 

In  the  afternoon  the  big  iron 
bridge  of  the  Seaboard  was  forced 
out  and  down  with  a  crash,  hundreds 
of  people  standing  on  its  approaches 
fleeing  for  safety.  Later  the  new, 
modern,  steel  bridge  of  the  Piedmont 
&  Northern,  standing  flve  feet  higher 
than  the  Seaboard,  was  forced  to 
follow  and  went  down,  slipping 
easily    from    its    piers    and    with    it 


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THE    NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


11 


six  heavy  loaded  cars  of  coal  that 
had  been  run  out  on  it  for  the  pur- 
pose of  holding  it  down.  It  was 
dark  when  this  bridge  went  down 
and  the  heavy  power  lines  and  trolly 
wire  carried  with  it,  heavily  charged 
with  electric  current,  lighted  the 
heavens  as  they  came  in  contact 
with  the  water.  It  was  a  show  not 
soon  to  be  forgotten  by  the  onlook- 
ers. Three  handsome  highway 
bridges,  one  a  beautiful  structure 
recently  completed  at  a  cost  of 
$100,000  to  the  county  of  Mecklen- 
burg, had  earlier  in  the  day  been 
swept   away. 

AT     THE      SOUTHERN      RAILWAY 
BRIDGE. 


MEN     WHO     WENT     DOWN     WITH 
THE   BRIDGE. 


The  heavy  iron  bridge  of  the 
Southern  Railway  at  Mayesworth, 
three  miles  above  Mount  Holly,  at 
5:30  Sunday  afternoon  was  the 
scene  of  the  greatest  catastrophe 
recorded.  When  this  bridge  was 
swept  away  it  carried  down  eighteen 
or  more  employes  of  the  railroad 
who  had  been  doing  heroic  work  for 
hours  trying  to  save  the  structure. 
The  crash  came  without  warning  and 
the  men  were  thrown  into  the  rushing 
waters,  six  of  them  never  to  be 
seen  again.  That  some  of  the  men 
had  managed  to  catch  to  trees 
farther  down  was  known  from  the 
cries  for  help  that  could  be  heard 
above  the  roar  of  the  water.  It 
was  then  dark  and  to  make  any  effort 
at  rescue  would  have  been  simple 
suicide.  Monday  morning  the  river 
had  risen  more  than  fifteen  feet  and 
the  trees  that  had  held  the  unfortun- 
ate men  were  either  submerged  or 
carried  away. 


The  men  known  to  have  gone 
down  with  the  Southren  Railway 
bridge  included  Resident  Engineer 
Joseph  Killian,  H.  P.  Griffiin,  C.  S. 
Barbee,  R.  O.  Thompson,  W.  L.  For- 
tune, G.  C.  Kale,  J.  N.  Gordon,  C.  W. 
Kluttz,  and  H  O.  Gulley,  all  white, 
and  ten  or  more  negroes,  all  em- 
ployees of  the  Southern.  The  white 
men  with  the  exception  of  Gordon, 
Barbee  and  Kluttz  were  rescued  the 
following  day  and  a  number  of  the 
negroes.  Gordon's  body  was  taken 
from  the  river  two  days  later  and 
Barbee's  was  found  on  Friday.  The 
body  of  Kluttz  was  never  found. 

Of  the  heroic  rescues  of  the  men 
marooned  in  trees  along  the  river 
graphic  stories  might  be  written. 
Early  Monday  morning  B.  M.  En- 
glish and  H.  T.  Vernor  put  out  with 
a  boat  for  Thompson  who  was  hang- 
ing to  a  tree  near  the  middle  of  the 
rushing  stream.  They  reached  him 
and  had  succeeded  in  getting  him  in 
the  boat  when,  in  his  delirium,  he 
capsized  the  boat  and  threw  all 
three  men  into  the  water  again.  Ver- 
nor saved  himself  and  both  the  other 
men  by  drawing  tnem  to  a  tree 
farther  down.  They  were  marooned 
for  more  than  nine  hours  before  be- 
ing  rescued    by   two    negroes 

Alphonso  Ross  and  Peter  Stowe, 
two  negro  men,  reared  on  the  river 
and  familiar  with  manning  a  boat 
volunteered  to  make  the  effort  at 
rescue.  A  boat  was  hastily  made 
and  the  men  went  out.  Trip  after 
trip  was  made  until  they  had  brought 
to  the  shore  Vernor,  English,  Thomp- 
son,   Killian,   Gurley   and   Kale. 

For  this  act  of  bravery  a  purse 
of  $550.00  was  presented  to  them  a 
few  days  later.     The  purse  was  col- 


12 


THEi  NORTH  CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


lected  through  the  Charlotte  Observ- 
er and  contributed  to  by  both  white 
and  colored   citizens. 

MEN    NEARLY    DELIRIOUS. 


AT   THE   CATAWBA'S    HEAD. 


Messrs.  Killian,  Thompson,  Gurley 
and  Kale  had  been  marooned  for 
twenty  hours  struggling  every  mo- 
ment against  a  relentless  current 
for  thier  lives.  They  were  dazed 
and  stupifiefid.  Their  throats  were 
sore,  their  eyes  swollen  and  their 
heads  were  roaring  the  merciless 
music  of  the  Catawba's  cantations. 
Their  shoes  were  gone  and  they  were 
shivering  from  exposure.  They  were 
wild  with  excitement.  Their  eyes 
carried  the  faraway  look  of  those 
"who  had  gone  down  in  the  deep." 
They  were  a  vision  that  was  painful 
to  behold.  When  they  were  brought 
to  the  bank  tears  filled  many  an  eye 
and  the  speech  of  the  men  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  swelling  of  emotions 
within  their  own  breasts.  The  men 
were  brought  to  Charlotte,  given 
medical  attention,  and  sent  to  their 
homes   and  families. 

ON    DOWN    THE    RIVER. 


Farther  down  the  Catawba  con- 
tinued its  destruction.  At  Fort  Mill, 
S.  C,  the  510  foot  steel  bridge  of 
the  Southern  was  swept  away  cutting 
off  rail  connections  over  both  main 
lines  leading  to  the  South  from  Char- 
lotte. The  Mountain  Island  cotton 
mills  at  Mount  Holly  was  swept 
away  and  with  it  a  number  of 
homes  of  operatives  and  800  bales 
of  cotton.  Nothing  could  stand  be- 
fore the  onrushing  waters.  The 
river  was  at  that  time — it  had  reach- 
ed its  crest — 51  feet,  some  said, 
above  its  ordinary  level. 


The  Catawba  rises  in  the  mountains 
to  the  right  of  Asheville.  It  flows 
down  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
valleys  of  the  western  part  of  North 
Carolina;  it  is  fed  by  numbers  of 
smaller  rivers  and  creeks.  All  along 
its  banks,  in  McDowell,  Burke,  Ca- 
tawba ,  Caldwell,  Iredell,  Lincoln,,, 
Mecklenburg  and  Gaston  counties, 
the  finest  farms  of  the  state  are  to 
be  seen  and  they  are  in  the  highest 
state  of  cultivation.  Many  of  these 
farms,  especially  in  McDowell,  Burke, 
Caldwell  and  Catawba  counties  have 
been  reduced  to  sand  and  gravel. 
Dotted  along  the  river  are  great 
hydro-electric  power  plants  and  great 
concrete  dams.  None  of  the  power 
plants  were  washed  away  but  all 
were  buried  in  water  and  sand  and 
damaged  thousands  of  dollars. 
Breaks  occurred  in  a  number  of  the 
dams  that  will  cost  thousands  of 
dollars  to  repair.  Located  along  the 
river  were  beautiful,  modern  cotton 
mills,  the  pride  of  the  section  and 
representing  investments  of  thou- 
sands. A  majority  of  the  mills 
stood  the  flood  pressure  but  were 
overflowed  and  greatly  damaged.  One 
mill  near  Statesville  was  completely 
wrecked  and  another  one  on  the  op- 
posit  bank,  owned  by  the  same  or- 
poration,  was  damaged  30  to  50  per 
cejQt.  All  of  them  had  warehouses 
of  cotton  washed  away,  representing 
large  amounts  of  money.  All  these 
losses  were  complete  as  no  insurance 
covered  such  losses. 

DAMAGE    TO    RAILROADS    IN    THE 
MOUNTAINS. 


The  Southern  Railway  from 
Statesville  west  towards  Asheville 
was  the  heaviest  loser  when  railroads 
are    considered.      An    article    appear- 


SOUTHERN  RAILWAY  BRIDGE,  CATAWBA  RIVER,  NEAR 
ROCK  HILL. 
This  bridge  (510  feet)  was  the  last  Bridge  to  go  out  breaking 
the  main  line  of  the  Southern  from  Charlotte  to  Jacksonville. 
Upper  view  shows  river  at  flood  tide;  lower,  wreckage  after 
river   receded.    (Cut   courtesy    Rock   Hill    Magazine.) 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


13 


ing  in  this  book  by  Mr.  F.  C.  Abbott, 
of  Charlotte,  gives  some  idea  of  the 
damage  to  this  one  line  and  the 
loss  to  the  corporation.  Not  a  rail- 
road bridge  was  left  standing  where 
the  road  crossed  the  river  and  in 
many  places  slides  and  washouts  oc- 
curred miles  away  from  any  stream, 
so  great  was  the  rainfall  in  that 
section.  Trains  caught  between 
bridges  and  slides  were  forced  to 
stand  for  days  before  lines  were 
reconstructed.  Passengers  marooned 
on  these  trains  told  vivid  stories  of 
their  experiences  cut  off  from  the 
world  and  not  knowing  the  conditions 
on  down  the  mountain.  In  some  in- 
stances only  limited  food  was  to  be 
had  and  no  lights  or  water.  One 
passenger  stated  that  he  never  got 
so  much  in  his  life  for  a  dollar-and- 
a-half.  He  was  in  a  Southren  Rail- 
way train  from  Saturday  morning 
until  the  following  Wednesday,  living 
in  a  Pullman  that  was  lighted  at 
night  by  a  tallow  candle. 

The  Carolina  and  North  Western 
Railway  was  also  a  heavy  looser. 
This  road  reaches  from  Chester,  S. 
C,  to  Lenoir,  with  an  extension  of 
30  miles  from  Lenoir  to  Edgement 
for  lumbering.  The  greatest  damage 
to  this  line  of  road  was  from  New- 
ton to  Lenoir  and  to  Edgemont. 
Bridges  were  swept  away  and  track 
and  roadbed  damaged  so  that  for 
days  traffic  was  suspended.  Be- 
yond Lenoir  towards  Edgemont  al- 
most the  entire  road  was  carried 
away.  This  section  was  in  the  center 
of  the  cloudburst  and  rushing  wa- 
ters carried  railroads,  saw  mills, 
farms,  farm  houses,  and  everything 
before  them.  The  sweep  of  the  wa- 
ter in  this  section  at  one  place  is 
said  to  have  completely  washed 
away  a  cemetery  that  had  been  in 
use  for  more  than  fifty  years,  leaving 


not  a  mark  of  a  grave.  Many  lives 
were  reported  lost  and  untold  dam- 
age   was    done    to    property. 

In  Alexander  county,  near  Taylors- 
ville,  certain  sections  came  in  for 
great  property  damage.  Flood  wa- 
ters of  the  streams  caused  the  wash- 
ing away  of  the  cotton  mills  at 
Liledown  and  Alspaugh  and  every 
bridge  and  corn  mill  along  the 
streams.  Away  from  the  streams 
cliffs  and  boulders  broke  away  from 
their  holdings  and  went  crashing 
down  the  mountains  carrying  death 
and  destruction.  Over  in  Wilkes 
county  and  farther  up  in  Watauga 
and  Ashe  counties  similar  conditions 
obtain. 

SEABOARD     AIR     LINE     LOSES 
HEAVILY. 


The  Seaboard  Air  Line  railway 
from  Charlotte  west  to  Rutherfordton 
was  loser  principally  from  bridges 
being  swept  away.  Its  heavy  iron 
bridge,  near  the  P.  &  N.  bridge  at 
Mount  Holly  was  one  of  the  first 
to  go  out  on  the  Catawba  near  Char- 
lotte. Damage  from  washed  road- 
bed and  culverts  was  reported  all 
along  and  for  several  weeks  after- 
wards traffic  was  delayed.  Its  line 
east  from  Charlotte  to  Monroe  was 
never  closed  but  farther  south  to- 
wards Columbia  and  Savannah 
traffic  was  temporarily  suspended  on 
account  of  the  high  water  and  dan- 
gers from  moving  trains  over  weaken- 
ed   bridges. 

The  Southern  Railway  was  also 
heavily  damaged  on  its  lines  from 
Asheville  to  Spartanburg,  down  the 
Saluda  mountains  and  its  lines  along 
the  Yadkin  river  from  Wilkesboro 
to  Donnaha  a  distance  of  fifty  miles 
01  more.  Accounts  of  the  great  dam- 
age   and    the    trail    of    the    flood    in 


14 


THE  NORTH   CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


these  sections  are  told  of  in  special 
articles  from  eyewitnesses,  published 
in  other  scetions  of  this  book. 

C.  C.  &  O.   RAILWAY  ALSO   HEAVY 
LOSER. 


The  Carolina,  Clinchfield  &  Ohio 
Railway  stretching  from  Dante,  Va., 
to  Spartanburg,  S.  C,  was  also  a 
heavy  loser  in  the  mountains.  This 
road  starts  across  the  mountains  at 
Marion,  N.  C,  and  winds  around 
cliffs  and  mountains  and  through 
tunnels  for  miles  until  the  Tennes- 
see line  is  reached.  Its  greatest 
damage  was  due  to  mountaxl  slides 
and  cloudbursts  of  water  sweeping 
down  carrying  rails,  ties  and  roadbed 
with  it  to  the  chasms  below.  The 
monetary  damage  to  this  road  could 
not  be  estimated.  It  was  closed  for 
several  weeks  afterwards  and  it  will 
be  months  and  perhaps  a  year  be- 
fore the  road  is  back  in  as  fine  shape 
as  before  the  flood.  It  was  the 
finest  built  road  in  the  North  Caro- 
lina mountains,  with  heavy  rails  and 
rock   ballast. 

ON     THE     WESTERN      SLOPE     OF 
THE    MOUNTAINS. 


The  great  rain  fall  being  central 
over  the  Asheville  scetion  it  carried 
the  flow  of  the  water  west  as  well 
as  east.  New  River,  Tennessee,  Toe 
and  other  rivers  and  streams  on  the 
western  slope  while  not  as  high  as 
those  on  the  eastern  side  did  great 
damage  and  overflowed.  All  along  the 
valleys  thousands  of  dollars  in  dam- 
age was  done  to  farms,  bridges  and 
industrial  plants.  At  Knoxville  the 
river  ran  well  up  into  certain  busi- 
ness and  residential  sections  causing 
no  loss  of  life  but  great  property 
damage. 


New  river  that  which  borders 
Northwestern  North  Carolina  and 
southwest  Virginia  was  a  raging 
torrent.  It  made  a  record  for  flood 
stage,  sweeping  what  is  known  in 
the  mountains  of  North  Carolina  as 
"New  River  Valley"  clean  of  every- 
thing in  its  path.  At  Fries,  Va.,  the 
half  million  dollar  cotton  mills — 
The  Washington  Mills — was  greatly 
damaged  and  the  great  concrete  dam 
swept  away.  This  property  is  largely 
owned  by  North  Carolina  capital.  At 
East  Radford,  Va.,  thousands  of  dol- 
lars was  lost  by  damage  to  property 
along  the  river.  The  Norfolk  & 
Western  Railway  was  the  heaviest 
individual  loser  along  this  river. 
This  railroad  corporation  has  been 
building  short  lines  of  road  back  into 
the  mountains  of  North  Carolina  and 
Virginia  for  several  years  and  these 
roads  were  the  lines  most  damaged 
in  the  New  River  Valley. 

THE     LOSS    THE    SECTION    OVER. 


No  estimate  within  a  million  dol- 
lars can  be  reached  as  to  the  loss 
to  property  sustained  from  this 
great  flood,  not  considering  the  loss 
of  life  and  the  loss  from  interrupted 
business.  Railroads  and  bridges  are 
already  largely  rebuilt  but  the  farms 
will  remain  barren  in  many  sections 
forever.  No  soil  is  left,  only  barren 
rocks.  This  is  true  especially  in 
the  mountain  sections.  The  natives 
ordinarily  of  scant  means,  many  of 
them  barely  able  to  eke  out  an  ex- 
istence will  be  forced  to  emigrate  to 
new  fields.  It  is  true  the  Governor 
was  prompt  to  issue  an  appeal  for 
these  stricken  people  and  the  citizens 
quick  to  respond  but  the  funds,  no 
matter  how  great,  will  never  be  able 
to  restore  to  them  the  lost  lands 
on  which  they  made  a  living. 


SCENE    AT    ASHEVILLE. 
(1)   Southern  railway  yards,  X  locates   Hans-Reece  Tannery  under 
water.    Great    property    loss    here.     (2)     Southern     railway    passenger 
depot    under   water.    X    shows   where    two    men    were    drowned    trying 
to  get  food  to  marooned   guests  in  Glen    Rock   Hotel. 


Asheville,  Biltmore  and  Nearby  Points 


By  HELEN  C  BLANKENSHIP 


First  Rumors  of  the  Storm. 
On  Wednesday,  July  12,  1916,  the 
following  little  news  item  was  sent 
out  by  the  Associated  Press  and 
appeared  in  the  daily  papers  of  the 
country: 

Weather    Disturbance. 

"Washington,  July  12. — Weath- 
er bureau  reports  today  give 
some  indications  of  a  disturbance 
in  the  extreme  eastern  Carribean 
Sea." 

The  item  appeared  in  the  Asheville 
papers  in  an  inconspicuous  position, 
read  by  few,  remarked,  probably,  by 
none.  Could  it  have  been  given  its 
true  news  value  in  relation  to  the 
proportions  it  was  to  assume  within 
the  next  few  days,  it  would  have 
been  printed  in  scare  head  type  over 
the  biggest  part  of  the  front  page, 
would  have  been  on  every  lip.  For 
this  was  the  cloud,  no  bigger  than  a 
man's  hand,  which  was  to  deluge 
Western  North  Carolina  with  such 
horror,  ruin  and  grief  as  the  peace- 
ful and  beautiful  region  had  never 
in  all  its  history  known  before. 

Thursday  the  "follow-up"  item  said, 
"The  Carribean  sea  disturbance  was 
aparently  central  this  morning  near 
the  south  of  Porto  Rica,  acording  to 
weather  bureau  reports.  Its  intensity 
was    still    unknown." 

Friday  afternoon  the  coast  of 
South    Carolina    and      Georgia      was 


swept  by  a  hurricane,  government 
storm  warnings  were  ordered  up, 
and  the  hurricane  was  felt  in  central 
South  Carolina,  the  wind  increasing 
in  violence. 

At  Asheville,  the  French  Broad  had 
been  high  all  week.  All  week  it  had 
been  raining.  Curious  sight-seers  had 
thronged  the  concrete  bridge  to  see 
the  river  lapping  the  front  steps  of 
litle  houses  ordinarily  several  hun- 
dred feet  from  the  water's  edge.  But 
nothing  had  been  thought  of  it. 
The  Asheville  rivers  had  never  in  the 
history  of  the  oldest  inhabitant  done 
any  damage,  caused  any  apprehen- 
sion. When  Saturday  afternoon  the 
Asheville  evening  paper  carried  the 
story  that  the  Swannnanoa  was  at 
flood  tide,  and  that  great  timbers 
and  piles  of  lumber  were  sweeping 
down  the  stream  and  threatening 
the  house  of  J.  C.  Lipe,  near  the 
river,  the  account  was  read  with 
passing  interest  only.  "It  is  reported 
that  there  has  been  a  cloud  burst 
on  the  head  waters  of  the  Swan- 
nanoa,"  said  the  paper.  A  cloud  burst 
indeed!  It  was  in  this  term 
that  the  rumor  of  what  was  happen- 
ing in  the  "Big  Mountains"  first 
reached  Asheville. 

The  tropical  hurricane,  had  travel- 
ed north  and  west  from  South  Car- 
olina. Borne  along  by  a  wind  of 
irrestitable  power,  the  vast  mass  of 
clouds,  heavily-laden  with  water,  had 
crashed  against  the  peaks  of  the 
Blue    Ridge,    and    had    poured    upon 


XV 


16 


THE   NORTH  CAROLINA  FliOOD. 


thier  slopes  deluge  enormous  beyond 
the  power  of  man  to  imagine  or 
describe. 

At  Alta  Pass,  in  Mitchell  county, 
where  the  center  of  the  storm  burst, 
and  where  the  rainfall  was  heaviest, 
22.22  inches  of  rain  fell  in  the  24 
hours  prceeding  2  p.  m.  on  the  fate- 
ful  Sunday. 

At  Black  Mountain,  as  said  W.  F. 
Randolph,  of  Asheville,  who  was  at 
his  summer  home,  Orchard  Camp, 
the  rain  came  down  in  sheets,  in 
streams,    in    tubfuls. 

At  Old  Fort,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  as  the  Old  Fort  Sentinel 
stated,  rivulets  became  streams, 
streams  became  creeks,  creeks  be- 
came rivers,  and  graphic  phrase, 
"rivers    became    frightful." 

Capt.  John  T.  Patrick  stated  that 
at  Bat  Cave  and  Chimney  Rock,  the 
noise  of  the  rain  beating  on  the 
roofs  of  the  houses  was  only  compar- 
able   to    thunder. 

All  this  rainfall,  be  it  remembered, 
fell  upon  ground  already  soaked  and 
saturated  down  to  bedrock,  upon 
streams  already  bank-full,  due  to  the 
storm  of  the  preceeding  week.  No 
wonder  then,  that  rivers  were  dou- 
bled, tripled  in  volume,  with  result- 
ing destruction  widespread  and  ter- 
rible. 

Dawn  of  the  Fateful  Sunday. 

Asheville  was  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  path  of  the  storm,  and  Sunday 
night  fell  with  the  people  ignorant 
of  the  calamity  that  was  aproaching. 
Laborers  took  the  street  car  to  their 
suburban  homes,  parties  motored  out 
to  their  country  places,  the  trains 
pulled  out  of  the  depot  as  usual,  car- 
rying their  human  passengers  bound 
for  points  far  and  near.  Saturday 
night,     rainy    and     windy,     darkness 


fell,  and  people  went  to  bed  and  to 
sleep — to  sleep,  many  of  them,  till 
late'  hours    Sunday   morning. 

The  blowing  of  the  whistle  of  the 
cotton  mill,  and  the  ringing  of  the 
riot  call  on  the  fire  bell,  awakened 
them  to  the  strangest  Sunday  Ashe- 
ville had  ever  known.  To  those  who 
lived  beyond  the  sound  of  these 
alarms,  the  first  inkling  of  the  situ- 
ation came  when  they  found  they  had 
no  electric  lights,  and  no  gas,  and 
that  there  were  no  street  cars  run- 
ning. People  began  to  question  their 
neighbors,  to  telephone,  to  stop  pass- 
ersby,  and  soon  the  news  was  spread- 
ing like  wildfire  all  over  the  city 
and  suburbs,  and  to  nearby  villages. 
The  wildest  rumors  were  current, 
though  most  of  them  were  no  worse 
than  the  truth. 

"Asheville  and  Biltmore  are  flood- 
ed!" the  cry  went  around.  VThe  wa- 
ter is  up  to  the  ceiling  in  the  depot. 
It  is  six  feet  deep  in  Dr.  Elias' 
house  in  Biltmore.  It  is  in  All  Soul's 
church — it  is  in  the  Vanderbilt  hos- 
pital— the  beds  are  floating — the  pa- 
tients are  drowning!  The  tannery  is 
washed  away — bridges  are  gone.  Cap- 
tain Lipe  and  some  of  the  nurses 
are  drowned  at  Biltmore.  Other  peo- 
ple are  up  in  trees,  surrounded  by 
water,  and  they  cannot  get  them  out 
of  the  river.  The  Swannanoa  is  a 
mile  wide!  Box  cars  are  floating 
down  the  French  Broad.  The  lakes 
at  Hendersonville  have  broken,  and 
hotels  from  Hendersonville  have 
floated  down  the  French  Broad. 
Street  cars  are  under  water  in  front 
of   the   depot." 

As  the  news  spread,  the  streets 
leading  to  Biltmore  and  the  depot, 
to  the  concrete  bridge  and  Riverside 
Park,  became  thronged  with  a  steady 
procession  of  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren on  foot,  of  autos,  and  carriages, 


O)   — 

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II 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


17 


and  of  horseback  riders  and  wagons 
from  the  country,  and  the  work  of 
life-saving  which  was  going  on  at 
Eiltmore  and  in  the  river  district  of 
Asheville  was  watched  by  a  vast 
crowd. 

Rescue  Work  at   Biltmore. 

At  4  o'clock  Sunday  morning  flood 
torrents  had  burst  without  warning 
into  the  village  of  Biltmore;  the 
rising  waves  drove  the  people  to 
the  hills  for  miles  along  the  Swan- 
nanoa  and  French  Broad,  and  houses 
were  tossed  in  the  waves  like  egg 
shells  and  lashed  in  pieces  against 
the   concrete   bridges. 

The  principal  interest  centered 
from  an  early  hour  in  the  morning 
until  late  afternoon  about  the  Lipe 
house  of  Biltmore  where  Captain 
Lipe,  and  the  nurses,  the  Misses 
Walker  and  Miss  Foister,  lost  their 
lives. 

P.  A.  Miller,  mayor  of  South  Bilt- 
more, was  an  eye-witness  to  the  en- 
tire  scene. 

Here  is  his  story: 

"My  little  boy  woke  me  about  6 
o'clock,"  he  said,  'saying  that  the 
river  was  up  and  Captain  Lipe's  fam- 
ily in  danger.  I  went  right  out  there. 
Captain  Lipe  was  up  in  a  tree  near 
his  house,  holding  his  youngest 
daughter.  Miss  Katherine  Lipe,  above 
him.  Miss  Charlotte  Walker,  and  Miss 
Foister,  nurses  from  Biltmore  hos- 
pital, and  Miss  Louise  Walker,  Miss 
Walker's  sister,  were  standing  at  the 
foot  of  the  tree  in  water  up  to  their 
necks.  They  were  holding  to  the  tree 
and  at  times  tried  to  climb  up  into 
it. 

"Everyone  of  the  Lipe  family,  and 
the  nurses,  had  once  gotten  out  of  the 
house  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning  in 
water  up   to  their   ankles.   They   did 


not  believe  the  water  would  rise  any 
more  and  went  back  after  their  be- 
longings. The  water  caught  them  so 
suddenly  that  they  could  not  get 
away. 

"One  by  one  the  victims  gave  way, 
let  go  their  hold  and  sank  immediate- 
ly. A  young  man  was  swimming  to 
the  last  of  the  young  ladies  with  a 
rope  when  she  turned  loose  and 
sank.  Captain  Lipe  was  the  last  to 
turn  loose.  He  had  been  in  that  cold 
water  for  six  or  eight  hours,  with 
the  river  lashing  his  back  and  beat- 
ing him  against  the  tree,  when  he 
gave  way  and  fell  into  the  water. 
He  was  seen  to  go  ten  feet,  to  sink, 
come  up,  go  under  again  and  was 
never  seen  any  more. 

"He  left  his  daughter.  Miss  Kath- 
leen still  clinging  to  the  tree.  She 
stayed  like  that  some  two  hours 
when  a  young  man  swam  to  her  and 
went  up  the  tree.  Another  young  man 
swam  out  and  took  her  a  rope.  They 
tied  her  up  in  the  tree,  well  above 
the  water,  so  that  her  weight  was 
suspended  by  the  rope  under  her 
arms,  before  they  got  a  boat  to  her. 
We  had  phoned  to  Skyland  in  the 
morning  for  a  boat,  and  young  Frady 
brought  it  to  Biltmore  on  a  wagon. 
Raymond  Plemmons,  Mrs.  Vander- 
bilt's  chauffeur,  and  Will  Donnahoe 
who  works  at  the  Vanderbilt  house 
as  footman,  got  the  boat  to  her — 
a  flat  botomed  home-made  boat,  and 
rowel  to  shallow  water.  Dr.  Elias  met 
her  at  the  water,  and  we  carried  her 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  through  the 
woods  to  Dr.  Smather's  machine, 
which  took  her  to  the  hospital.  She 
kept  asking  us  not  to  hurt  her  left 
arm,  and  said  that  she  was  beat  to 
pieces  against  that  tree.  It  was  about 
2  o'clock  when  she  was  rescued. 

"All  this  time,  Mrs.  MilhoUand, 
Captain  Lipe's  oldest  daughter  was  in 


18 


THE   NORTH  CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


the  water  near  the  ball  park  pavil- 
ion, holding  to  a  tree.  Another  man 
was  there,  too,  whose  name  I  do  not 
know.  Mrs.  Milholland  had  been  out 
of  her  house  and  returned.  She  phon- 
ed Mr.  Fiezer,  the  livery  man  to 
come  get  his  horses  out  of  the  stable 
and  she  got  caught  by  the  water 
herself.  My  brother,  A.  A.  Miller, 
took  the  first  rope  to  them.  He  swam 
from  the  office  building,  was  wash- 
ed under,  came  up  again,  but  lost 
the  rope.  Walter  Curry  took  the 
second  rope.  He  stopped  at  the  tree 
above,  and  threw  it  to  them.  He  went 
under,  but  they  got  the  rope.  He 
caught  the  tree  and  stayed  there  for 
two  hours,  then  swam  out  at  the 
lodge    gate. 

'"The  man  lashed  Mrs.  Milholland 
to  the  three.  In  a  few  minutes  about 
two  wagon  loads  of  lumber,  solidly 
packed,  came  down  the  river  right 
against  their  backs,  and  settled 
against  the  tree.  The  man  untied  the 
rope,  climbed  upon  the  lumber,  rest- 
ed, then  pulled  Mrs.  Milholland  up, 
she  rested,  and  then  he  lashed  her 
to  the  tree  two  feet  above  the  water. 
They  were  in  the  tree  four  hours. 
They  got  them  out  about  3  or  4 
o'clock.  The  water  began  to  fall  at 
12. 

"In  the  meantime  some  Biltmore 
carpenters,  Mr.  Hamilton,  Mr.  Hall, 
and  Mr.  Creasman,  had  made  a  boat. 
We  used  this  to  rescue  families  along 
Brook  street,  among  them  the  family 
of  Ben  Taylor,  also  Mr.  Weldon,  the 
night  operator  at  the  Biltmore  depot, 
who  had  been  in  water  up  to  his 
neck  since   3  o'clock." 


But  for  the  bravery  of  C.  P.  Ryman 
and  R.  Ball,  Miss  Kathleen  Lipe 
would  have  undoubtedly  perished  in 
the    flood.    Like    true    heroes,    these 


men  after  risking  their  lives,  said 
nothing   about   it. 

Sunday  noon,  while  Miss  Lipe  was 
still  clinging  in  the  tree  from  which 
four  had  been  swept  to  a  watery 
grave,  Ryman  and  Ball,  unknown  to 
r.nyone,  were  constructing  a  small 
raft.  When  finishel,  they  pushel  it 
into  the  water  and  started  for  the 
tree,  but  when  the  frail  raft  was 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  tree  it 
struck  a  lamp  post  and  the  men 
were  thrown  into  the  water.  Mr.  Ry- 
man succeeded  in  swimming  to  the 
tree  to  which  the  girl  was  holding, 
but  Mr.  Ball  was  carried  on  down 
stream  and  finally  succeeded  in  get- 
ting a  foothold  on  the  lodge  gate 
where  he  remained  for  five  hours. 

Mr.  Ryman,  on  reaching  the  tree 
lifted  Miss  Lipe  as  far  out  of  the 
water  as  possible,  then  tied  a  small 
rope  about  her  waist  and  fastenel 
her  securely  to  the  tree.  He  then 
climbed  the  tree,  and  reaching  down 
released  the  rope  about  the  girl  and 
attempted  to  pull  her  up  into  the 
tree,  but  he  was  too  exhausted  af- 
ter his  battle  with  the  swift  water 
and  was  compelled  again  to  tie  the 
Kirl  to  the  trunk  of  the  tree.  He 
then  climbed  into  the  tree  and  for 
five  hours  stood  ready  to  plunge 
into  the  water  should  the  girl  be 
torn  from  the  tree. 

Ryman  was  taken  from  the  tree 
by  the  men  who  later  reached  him 
pnd    Miss    Lipe   with    a   boat. 

Will  Cooper,  also  of  Biltmore,  tied 
a  rope  about  his  body  and  swam, 
battling  the  swift  current,  all  the 
way  from  Biltmore  office  to  the  tree 
where  Miss  Lipe  was  clinging,  which 
was   near  the   estate   lodge   gate. 

Ryman  and  Ball  put  off  in*  a  boat 
they  had  constructed  in  an  attempt 
to  reach  the  girl.     When  a  short  dis- 


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THE   NORTH   CAROONA   FLOOD. 


19 


tance  away,  their  craft  was  hurled 
against  a  lamp-post  and  mased.  The 
pair  swam  to  the  tree  harboring  Miss 
Lipe  and  drew  themselves  into  the 
branches. 

Cooper  witnessed  the  disaster,  put 
a  rope  around  himself  with  a  knot 
he  could  easily  loose  and  reached 
the  tree  in  a  record  breaking  swim. 
Once  there,  he  helped  Miss  Lipe  fur- 
ther into  the  branches,  bound  her 
fast  to  the  trunk  and  tossed  the  end 
of  the  line   to  Ryman. 

Almost  exhausted,  he  dropped  back 
into  the  flood  and  was  carried  swiftly 
toward  the  lodge  wall.  He  attempted 
to  reach  the  building  but  the  cur- 
rent was  too  much  for  him.  Fifty 
feet  below  he  caught  hold  of  some 
bushes   and   hung   fast. 

The  lodge  keeper,  Franks,  seeing 
his  plight,  tied  several  sheets  togeth- 
er and  let  the  improvised  life  line 
drift  down  as  far  as  possible.  When 
Cooper  got  his  wind,  he  pulled  him- 
self along  by  the  bushes  to  it  and 
was   dragged  to   safety. 

It  it  had  not  been  for  his  ready 
wit  and  courage  in  the  face  of  terri- 
fic danger,  it  is  probable  that  Miss 
Lipe  never  could  have  hung  on  until 
a   boat   rescued   her. 


A    Lame    Girl    Saved — Story    of    Miss 
Lipe. 

There  was  nobody  along  the  entire 
waterfront  better  placed  to  view  the 
enormous  destruction  in  life  and 
property  than  Miss  Nellie  R.  Lipe. 
The  fact  that  she  is  lame  and  partial- 
ly unable  to  walk  about  freely  added 
to  the  terror  of  her  position  on  the 
day  her  father  was  swept  to  his 
death. 

Miss  Lipe  said:  "Miss  Foister  and 
I  were  spending  the  night  with  Miss 
Walker    in    her    Biltmore    home.    It 


must  have  been  3  o'clock  in  the 
morning  when  the  telephone  rang. 
Miss  Walker  answered  it.  The  call 
was  from  my  sister  who  said  the 
water  in  the  river  was  rising  fast 
and  would  soon  be  over  the  bridge." 

Miss  Nellie  Lipe,  Miss  Foister  and 
Miss  Walker  at  once  put  on  their 
clothes  and  went  over  to  see  if  they 
could  aid  Captain  Lipe. 

Miss  Niellie  Lipe  was  pushed  over 
to  her  home  in  her  wheel  chair. 
When  the  party  reached  the  house 
the  water  had  risen  six  inches  over 
the  street  level  and  was  boiling 
through  the  cement  rail  of  the 
bridge. 

Miss  Lipe  gave  up  her  wheeled 
chair  to  her  aged  grandmother  who 
otherwise  could  not  have  been  moved 
and  calmly  watched  her  trundled  to 
safety.  Later  several  men  success- 
fully battled  with  the  current  and 
dragged  a  baggage  truck  from  the 
Biltmore  station  to  the  Lipe's  door. 
On  this  the  brave  lame  woman  was 
taken  back  to  Miss  Walker's  home. 

"After  I  was  beyond  the  danger 
zone,"  continued  Miss  Lipe,  "the  re- 
mainder of  the  party  again  returned 
to  urge  Captain  Lipe  to  abandon  the 
house.  That  is  all  I  know  about  the 
night.My  sisters  and  father  did  not 
come  back  and  I  waited  alone  for 
daylight  with  the  water  swishing 
through    the    lower    rooms. 

"In  the  morning,  I  could  just  see 
my  father  and  the  two  nurses  cling- 
ing to  the  third  tree  from  the  Bilt- 
more lodge  gate.  I  couldn't  see  my 
sister,  Kathleen,  but  I  later  learned 
she,  too,  was  struggling  in  the  tree. 

"My  father  did  not  strap  my  sister 
to  the  tree.  She  tied  her  sweater 
around  the  trunk  and  attempted  to 
work  her  way  up  the  branches  as 
the  water  rose.  I  don't  remember  see- 
ing anybody  actually  let   go,   though 


20 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


the  two  Miss  Walkers  disappeared 
lirst.  Then  my  father  and  sister 
went. 

"Some  men  came  for  me  in  a 
boat  about  four  in  the  afternoon. 
They  made  a  landing  on  the  stairs 
about  half  way  up.  They  took  me 
to  Biltmore  hospital  where  by  sisters 
were   brought   later." 

It  was  R.  J.  Dowtin  and  Zeb  Creas- 
man,  of  Biltmore,  who  finally  rescued 
Mrs.  Milholland  from  the  tree  in 
which  she  stayed  from  early  morning 
until  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Nu- 
merous fruitless  efforts  had  been 
made  to  save  Mrs.  Milholland,  and 
she  had  been  greatly  aided  by  the 
efforts  of  young  Mr.  Thompson. 

Mrs.  Milholland  reached  a  tree 
about  60  yards  southwest  of  the 
Biltmore  administration  office  when 
overwhelmed  by  the  flood.  Before 
the  water  had  risen  very  high  Mr. 
Thompson  carried  a  rope  from  a  tree 
directly  below  the  office  to  the  one 
Mrs.  Milholland  was  in.  The  water, 
however,  rose  so  rapidly  that  he  was 
unable  to  get  her  ashore  or  get  back 
himself.  But  he  succeeded  in  tying 
her  to  a  tree.  Later  some  lumber 
drifted  against  the  tree  and  they 
cilmbed  up   on   it. 

Mr.  Dowtin  and  Mr.  Creasman 
launched  a  raft  from  the  office,  a 
rope  being  tied  to  the  raft,  and  they 
succeeded  in  getting  the  raft  near 
enough  to  the  tree  so  that  Mr.  Dow- 
tin could  jump  out  on  the  lumber 
which  had  drifted  against  the  tree. 
Mr.  Dowtin  then  succeeded  in  bring- 
ing Mrs.  Milholland  onto  the  raft 
which  was  then  pulled  back  to  the 
Biltmore  office  by  means  of  the 
rope.  Mr.  Dowtin  stated  that  the 
stream  was  so  swift  that  he  did  not 
think  they  would  ever  have  succeed- 
ed in  rescuing  Mrs.  Milholland  ex- 
cept by  means  of  the  rope. 


George  Digges,  police  desk  ser- 
geant, with  Adolph  Marquart  and 
Harry  Noland,  secured  a  canoe  and 
put  into  the  Swannanoa  river  at  the 
broadest  expanse  of  the  swollen 
stream  near  the  lower  Victoria  road 
at  the  end  of  the  Biltmore  avenue 
car  line,  with  the  purpose  of  res- 
cuing from  the  half-submerged  Lipe 
home  on  the  Biltmore  side  and  of  the 
family   who   might   remain. 

The  large  crowds  which  from 
early  dawn  thronged  the  highway 
and  banks  of  the  stream  in  an 
eager  effort  to  lend  help  to  the 
flood  victoms  watched  with  deep 
interest  the  daring  deed.  From 
the  bank  well  out  into  the  flood- 
ed area  of  meadow  land  the  canoe 
made  good  progress  but  on  reach- 
ing the  main  strong  current  of 
the  river  capsized  and  it  was  not 
seen  again.  The  three  young  men 
were  thrown  bodily  against  a  tree 
and  sought  refuge  in  the  limbs 
but  again  were  hurled  into  the 
water,  the  tree  giving  way  be- 
neath their  weight.  Spectators  on 
the  northern  bank  of  the  stream 
witnessing  this  felt  that  all  hope 
was  lost,  but  each  of  the  three 
being  good  swimmers  and,  as 
Sergeant  Digges  put  it,  "not  knowing 
what  they  could  do  until  they  had 
to,"  swam  with  the  current  to  the 
new  concrete  Biltmore  bridge  and 
were  lost  to  view.  From  the  bridge 
the  brave  trio  made  their  way  to 
the  Lipe  house  and  finding  it  ut- 
terly empty,  began  their  perilous 
return.  This  distance  was  made  in 
three  stages,  each  more  difi^icult  than 
the  preceding  one  until  finally  the 
seemingly  impossible  was  accomplish- 
ed when  the  boys  "shinned"  their 
way  up  one  of  the  telegraph  poles 
left  standing  in  the  river,  which  car- 
ries    the    sole    remaining    telephone 


THE    NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


21 


connection  to  the  stricken  village, 
and  on  the  wire  strung  across  the 
river  made  their  way,  hand  over 
hand,  suspended  above  the  boiling 
current. 

In  the  last  stage  of  this  difficult 
progress  the  swirling  waters  be- 
neath and  the  height  of  the  wire 
combined  with  an  overcoming  ex- 
haustion caused  the  boys  to  lose 
their  hold.  Falling  again  into  the 
river  they  were  at  last  within  reach 
of  their  friends  on  the  bank.  Ropes 
were  thrown  them  and  amid  the  ap- 
plause of  those  witnessing  the  daring 
feat  they  were  brought  to  shore. 

Nurses      Met      Death      Like      Heroes. 

Details  of  the  drowning  of  Misses 
Charlotte  and  Marion  Walker  and 
Miss  Mabel  Foister  reveal  that  those 
unfortunate  victims  of  the  flood  met 
death  with  a  courage  as  pathetic  as 
inspiring. 

Those  who  saw  from  high  ground 
in  Biltmore  the  tragedies  that  they 
were  powerless  to  prevent  say  that 
the  trained  nurses  met  their  fate 
with  even  more  than  the  heroism  that 
one  would  expect  from  a  v/oman 
trained  to  face  death  from  day  to  day 
in  the  operating  room  or  in  the  still- 
ness  of  the  ward  at  midnight. 

Miss  Foister  had  been  spending 
the  day  and  night  with  her  friends 
Miss  Charlotte  and  Miss  Marion 
Walker  at  their  apartments  on  the 
Plaza.  Miss  Charlotte  and  Miss  Fois- 
ter both  were  graduates  of  Clarence 
Baker  Memorial  hospital  at  Bilt- 
more, Miss  Walker  in  the  class  of 
1911  and  Miss  Foister  in  the  class  of 
1913.  All  three  young  ladies  were 
friends  of  the  Lipe  family,  and  when 
awakened  between  three  and  five 
o'clock  Sunday  morning  by  the  gen- 
eral   alarm,    and    hearing    that    their 


friends,  the  Lipes  were  in  danger^ 
they  hurriedly  dressed  and  hastened 
to    their   assistance. 

Walking  or  wading  ankle  deep  in 
water  from  the  first,  they  had  made 
three  trips  from  the  Lipe  house  to 
their  apartment,  carrying  what  they 
could  carry  of  the  household  goods, 
bedding  and  linen  to  their  rooms, 
When  they  had  made  the  third  trip, 
and  at  about  6  o'clock,  the  water 
which  had  been  lowly  rising  all  the 
time  suddenly  came  down  like  a  tidal 
wave,  with  terrific  force  and  swift- 
ness, and  the  young  women  were 
caught  between  the  Lipe  home  and 
the  Plaza,  and  carried  down  towards 
the  Lodge  gate.  They  caught  hold  on 
a  large  tree  surrounded  by  one  of 
the  steel  fences  by  which  all  the 
shade  trees  in  and  about  Biltmore 
village  are  protected,  and  to  this 
metal  framework  they  clung  with 
their  hands,  in  water  up  to  their 
necks,  and  with  the  tremendous  pres- 
sure of  the  current  pulling  and 
sweeping   against  them. 

Their  predicament  could  hardly 
have  been  more  terrible,  more  appall- 
ing to  the  stoutest  heart,  but  the 
brave  girls  still  kept  up  their  cour- 
age and  their  hopes.  Knowing  that 
they  could  not  hold  on  long,  and 
that  to  let  go  was  to  be  instantly 
carried  away  and  under  by  the 
swift-rolling  waters,  and  with  no  im- 
mediate succor  in  sight  they  still 
tried  to  cheer  each  other.  Miss 
Charlotte  Walker  was  the  first  to 
fail  in  strength,  and  Miss  Foister  was 
seen  to  hold  up  her  friend's  head 
with  one  hand,  maintaining  her  own 
hold  on  life  and  safety  with  the 
other,  till  the  current  tore  the  girl's 
weakened  grip  from  the  metal-work 
around  the  tree  and  she  was  instant- 
ly swept  out  of  sight.  Miss  Foister 
then  supported  Miss  Charlotte's  little 


22 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


sister,  Miss  Marion,  until  the  little 
girl  could  hold  on  no  longer  and  was 
torn  away  and  lost  to  sight  in  the 
flood.  Miss  Foister  was  not  able  to 
maintain  her  hold  long  after  her 
friends  were  swept  away.  Before  the 
agonized  eyes  of  scores  of  watching, 
helpless  people,  hoping  against  hope 
that  she  could  hold  out  till  help 
came,  the  unfortunate  young  woman 
was  at  length  suddenly  seen  to  let 
go  and  almost  instantly  sink  in  the 
muddy    waters. 


Horace  Smith,  of  Beaverdam,  an 
eye-witness  of  the  rescue  of  Elmer 
Bishop  from  the  flooded  water  of  the 
Swannanoa  Sunday  afternoon,  told 
the  story  of  the  accurrence  as  fol- 
lows: 

"Young  Bishop  and  a  young  man 
named  Fletcher  had  come  down  to 
the  river  on  a  motorcycle  Sunday 
afternoon.  Hundreds  of  people  were 
massed  on  Biltmore  avenue  watching 
the  rescue  work  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river.  Mr.  Paperone  had  been 
trying  to  cross  the  river  with  the 
help  of  a  rope  thrown  across  a 
telephone  pole,  and  had  found  the 
current  too  strong  for  him. 

"Mr.  Bishop  and  Mr.  Fletcher  got 
off  their  motorcycle  and  Mr.  Bishop 
waded  out  into  the  stream  saying,  'T 
can  wade  to  the  street  car  waiting 
room  out  there.'  Dozens  of  people 
urged  him  not  to  attempt  this,  and 
to  evrey  step  he  tood,  called  to  him 
to  some  back,  that  the  current  was 
too  strong  for  him;  but  he  went  on 
as  if  their  voices  were  the  wind, 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  muddy 
water.  Suddenly  he  took  one  step 
too  far,  and  was  caught  by  the  cur- 
rent and  swept  away.  , 

'il  never  saw  anything  like  the 
strength  and  swiftness  of  that  cur- 
rent. That  boy  seemed  to  be  turning 


somersaults  in  the  water.  He  was 
rolled  along  head  over  heels,  some- 
times out  of  sight.  We  thought  he 
was  gone.  He  was  impeded  by  his 
clothes,  including  a  heavy  coat  and 
leggins. 

"People  kept  calling  to  him  to 
steer  to  the  right,  in  the  hope  that 
he  would  get  into  shallow  water  and 
out  of  the  worst  of  the  current.  He 
did  manage  to  do  this,  and  presently 
we  saw  hi  mstop  and  come  to  his 
feet. 

"Do  you  know  what  saved  his  life? 
He  was  above  the  Vanderbilt  nursery, 
and  he  caught  hold  of  one  of  those 
litle  trees,  or  he  might  have  been  in 
the    French    Broad    now. 

"Everybody  called  to  him  to  hold 
fast,  and  Mr.  Paparone  and  another 
man  started  to  him.  They  waded  all 
the  way,  but  one  man  was  up  to  his 
chin  when  he  got  there,  and  they 
were  big,  stout  men,  able  to  stand 
up  in  the  stream.  They  did  not 
have  to  go  into  the  worst  of  the  cur- 
rent. 

"They  brought  him  to  shore,  and 
he  was  the  whitest  live  man  I  ever 
saw.  He  was  sick  from  swallowing 
that  muddy  water.  It  was  the  mud- 
diest water  that  ever  flowed,  so  mud- 
dy that  it  was  thick.  It  was  some 
time  before  Mr.  Bishop  was  able  to 
get  on  his  motorcyvle  and  go  home." 

Mr.  Paperone,  who  was  born  on 
the  bay  of  Naples,  and  has  swam  m 
rivers,  lakes  and  the  oceans,  stated 
that  he  had  never  breasted  so  fierce 
a  current  as  that  of  the  Swannanoa 
Sunday. 

Finding  of  the  Bodies. 

The  body  of  Miss  Walker  was 
found  Monday  morning,  shortly  after 
daylight,  just  below  the  lodge  gate 
to  the  Vanderbilt  estate. 


-      O) 


nj    .^ 


<u   i 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


23 


About  1:30  o'clock  Wednesday  af- 
ternoon the  mud  bedraggled  body  of 
Miss  Mabel  Foister  was  found  a 
half  mile  from  the  lodge  gate  in  the 
Biltmore  bottoms,  on  the  Biltmore 
side  of  the  river,  where  the  young 
nurse  had  rested  Sunday  after  her 
losing   battle   with   death. 

Wilburn  Hendricks  and  Constable 
Joyner  of  West  Asheville,  members 
of  the  searching  party,  found  the  girl. 
She  was  placed  in  Mrs.  George  W. 
Vanderbilt's  automobile  and  taken 
to  an  undertaking  establishment. 

The  body  of  Captain  Lipe  was  not 
found  until  Thursday  afternoon  in  a 
muddy  inlet  a  little  farther  down 
the  Swannanoa  by  which  he  had 
lived  so  long. 

Mrs.   Vanderbilt's   Part. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  placed  every  re- 
source of  her  vast  estate— personal 
and  otherwise — at  the  disposal  of 
the    relief    and    rescue    parties. 

With  her  daughter.  Miss  Cornelia 
Stuyesant  Vanderbilt,  she  came  early 
to  the  water's  edge,  and  remained 
there,  serving  hot  coffee  to  the  men 
who  were  chilled  by  long  hours  in 
the  water,  offering  them  stimulants, 
encouraging  the  work  of  rescue,  and 
putting  her  automobile  at  the  dis- 
posal of  those  going  to  and  fro  from 
the  hospitals  in  Biltmore.  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt was  dressed  in  a  walking 
costume  with  short  skirt  and  rubber 
boots,  and  as  the  men  trying  to 
rescue  Captain  Lipe,  his  daughters 
and  the  nurses,  swam  to  shore,  she 
would  wade  out  and  meet  them,  and 
hold    hot    coffee    to    their    lips. 

Mrs.  Sadie  Rogers,  of  Cincinnati, 
was  visiting  her  son,  Jake  Rogers, 
near  Biltmore.  Mr.  Rogers  was  call- 
ed before  daylight  to  the  water's 
edge    to    try    to    rescue    Mi.^s    Lipe. 


Mrs.  Rogers,  after  waiting  hours  for 
her  son  to  return,  followed  him  to 
the  scene  of  the  flood,  and  was 
standing  watching  him  swimming  in 
the  turbid  waters,  when  she  heard  a 
voice   at  her   elbow. 

"Will  you  do  something  to  help?" 

VI  turned,"  she  said,  "and  looked 
into  the  face  of  a  sweet  and  gentle 
lady.  "I'll  do  anything  I  can,"  I 
said. 

"Then  take  this  coffee  percolator, 
and  give  a  cup  of  hot  coffee  to 
every  man  that  comes  out  of  that 
river.  When  your  coffee  is  gone,  go 
get  it  filled  from  the  big  urn  in  the 
drug  store.  This  lady  behind  you 
it   to  follow  you  with  sandwiches." 

"I  said,  'all  right,'  "said  Mrs. 
Rogers,  "but  I  wondered  who  this 
lady  was  who  seemed  to  have  taken 
charge  of  caring  for  everybody.  I  in- 
quired her  name  and  was  told  it  was 
Mrs.   Vanderbilt. 

<"I  served  the  coffee  beside  her 
all  morning.  When  my  son  came  out 
of  the  water,  chilled  and  shaking, 
she  waded  out  into  the  river  over 
the  tops  of  her  boots  to  help  him  in, 
and  insist  upon  his  taking  a  sip  of 
whisky  or  a  little  spirits  of  ammonia. 
When  he  stepped  out  of  the  water, 
she  wrapped  a  warm  blanket  around 
him,  made  him  get  into  her  automo- 
bile, and  ordered  him  taken  to  the 
hospital  to  get  warm  and  to  rest. 
When  the  boat  went  after  Mrs. 
Milholland,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  herself 
placed  stimulants  in  the  boat  to  be 
given  her  as  soon  as  the  boat  reach- 
ed her. 

"The  next  day  I  was  going  down 
r  street  in  Biltmore  when  I  heard 
some  one  call,  'good  morning.'  I  look- 
ed around  and  saw  Mrs.  Vanderbilt. 
She  asked  me  how  I  felt,  whether  I 
had  taken  cold,  and  whether  I  had 
slept    well.    I    never    saw    a    kinder 


24 


THE    NORTH  CAROUNA   FLOOD. 


lady,    or    one    more    thoughtful    for 
others." 

The  "Death"  Tree — Ruin  in   Biltmore. 

The  home  of  Captain  Lipe,  but  a 
few  feet  from  the  end  of  the  bridge 
across  the  Swannanoa,  from  which 
all  the  persons  drowned  at  Biltmore 
fled  in  the  fright  and  darkness  of 
that  early  Sunday  dawn,  stood  till 
Tuesday  after  the  flood,  and  then 
collapsed  and  fell  into  the  river,  to 
be  carried  down  stream.  Had  Captain 
Lipe,  Miss  Foister  and  the  Misses 
Walker  remained  in  the  house  Sun- 
day they  would  have  escaped  in  safe- 
ty. But  the  house  was  rocking  in  the 
current;  they  dared  not  remain  and 
thought  they  chose  the  wiser  course 
in  fleeing  into  the  rising  waters  in 
which  they  met  their  death. 

Autos  and  carriages  plied  constant- 
ly back  and  forth  over  the  bridge 
to  Biltmore  in  the  next  few  days 
after  the  flood,  carrying  curious 
persons  to  see  the  ruins  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Biltmore,  the  Lipe  house,  and 
the  "death  tree"  where  Captain 
Lipe  and  the  nurses  had  clung  to 
the  iron  tree-protector,  dragged  at 
by  the  cold  and  muddy  water,  till 
they  loosed  their  holds  and  were 
carried   under  the   relentless   waters. 

Wheat,  packed  into  the  interstices 
of  the  railing  of  the  concrete  bridge, 
muddy  curtains  in  front  windows  of 
the  model  cottages  in  the  village, 
men  in  bathing  suits,  hands  and 
feet  muddy,  trying  to  clean  off 
floors  and  porches  with  garden  hose; 
handsome  parlor  furniture  and  rugs 
standing  out  in  the  yards  to  be 
cleaned  of  mud  and  slime,  the  Bilt- 
more ticket  agent  sorting  piles  of 
wet  and  muddy  railroad  forms,  pa- 
pers and  tickets,  the  smashed  canoe 
in  which  rescuers  had  performed  the 


uncanny  feat  of  paddling  through 
the  Biltmore  estate  oflBce  via  the 
windows,  straw  and  dirt  left  by  the 
water  in  the  fixtures  of  the  street 
lights,  these  were  some  of  the  re- 
markable   sights." 

The  force  of  the  current  across 
its  entire  width  even  in  shallow 
water,  was  unbelievable.  Bricks  from 
the  sidewalks  of  the  village  were 
strewn  across  the  village  green  as 
if  by  giant  hands,  and  the  rock  and 
gravel  washed  off  the  macadam 
drives  was  piled  up  here  and  there 
as  if  just  dumped  from  a  wagon 
bed. 


Two  unknown  heroes  in  Biltmore 
were  a  man  who  swam  into  the 
Biltmore  livery  stable  and  cut  loose 
the  horses  so  that  they  might  save 
their  lives,  and  a  resident  of  a  cot- 
tage who  came  back  into  the  rising 
water  at  the  risk  of  his  life  to  re- 
lease his  six-weeks-old  puppy  which 
was  calling  to  him  from  the  coal- 
house  with  piteous  whines.  He  car- 
ried the  little  dog  upstairs,  and  shut 
it  in  a  bedrom  with  bread  and  water, 
till  the  falling  of  the  river  allowed 
him   to   return    for   his    pet. 


Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was  greatly  dis- 
tressed at  the  death  of  the  heroic 
yoimg  girls  who  met  their  fate  in 
the  floods,  and  especially  at  the 
drowning  of  Captain  Lipe,  for  27 
years  employe  and  trusted  head  car- 
penter on  the  estate.  Following  the 
receding  of  the  waters  she  directed 
the  work  of  cleaning  and  renovating 
the  Biltmore  cottages  which  showed 
the  gruesome  water  mark  on  their 
walls,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was  also  a 
heavy  loser  in  respect  of  the  hay 
and  wheat  and  oat  stacks  from  the 
bottom  lands  of  the  estate  which 
were  washed  away,  and  50  acres   of 


SCENES     AT   ASHEVILLE. 
(1)     Below    the    Asheville   Cotton    Mills.    (2)    Southern   railway 
bridge.    This    bridge   was    left    standing    uninjured. 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


25 


fine  corn  buried  in  sand.  For  several 
days  the  Biltmore  dairy  had  no  ice 
nor  water,  and  had  to  make  a  10- 
mile  detour  to  bring  the  famous 
"Biltmore  certified"  milk  to  Asheville. 


Rescue  Work  at  the  Tannery — Death 
of  Trexler  and  Frazier. 

The  rescuing  of  the  marooned  peo- 
ple in  the  tannery  district  called 
for   many   deeds    of  heroism. 

The  Asheville  fire  department  work- 
ed untiringly  from  early  hours  until 
late  in  the  evening  at  rescue  work, 
and  it  was  owing  to  their  persistent 
work  that  every  inhabitant  of  the 
Hans  Rees  Sons  tannery  district 
was    taken    out    safely. 

Fred  Gash  and  Everett  Frady  of 
the  fire  department,  Andrew  Line, 
a  boiler  maker  employed  in  the 
shops  of  the  Southern  railway,  and 
Fred  Jones,  plain  clothes  police- 
man were  the  heroes  of  the  tannery 
rescue  party  who  deserve  special 
mention  for  risking  their  own  lives 
to  save  the  helpless  women  and  chil- 
dren marooned  far  out  from  the 
shore,  clinging  in  the  upper  stories 
of  rickety  sheds,  filled  with  cord 
wood  and  tan  bark.  Every  now  and 
then  one  of  these  buildings  gave 
way  to  the  pressure  of  the  water  and 
float  out  into  the  vortex,  to  be 
brought  up  with  a  crash  and  splinter- 
ed against  the  concrete  railroad 
trestle. 

As  early  as  7  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  when  the  first  reports 
reached  the  center  of  the  city  that 
the  river  had  reached  dangerous 
proportions,  Plain  Clothes  Policeman 
Fred  Jones  went  to  the  tannery  dis- 
trict and  obtaining  a  boat  along  the 
river's  edge  made  two  trips  alone 
into  the  dwelling  section  of  the  tan- 
nery bringing  out  as  many  people  at 


a  time  as  he  could  safely  carry. 
Hearing  that  there  was  a  sick  man 
in  the  village  he  made  for  his  house 
and  found  G.  W.  Carson,  helpless  in 
bed  wit  htyphoid  fever.  He  rescued 
him  and  a  six-mounths-old  baby. 
Jones  made  another  trip  and  brought 
out  some  women,  but  had  to  give  up 
further  work  until  more  help  arrived. 

The  firemen  were  summoned  to 
the  scene  with  the  hook-and-ladder 
truck  and   one   of   the   motor  trucks. 

Sladen-Fakes  &  Co.'s  motor  truck 
make  a  record  run  to  Riverside  Park, 
loaded  up  canoes  and  row  boats, 
went  to  the  flooded  districts  about 
the  passenger  depot  where  they  dis- 
tributed the  boats.  The  firemen  hast- 
ened to  the  tannery  district,  proceed- 
ed to  rig  up  ferry  ropes  and  guides 
to  enable  the  boats  to  make  safe 
pasage  across  the  yard  and  to  the 
buildings  at  the  far  end  of  the 
group.  The  river  was  rapidly  rising 
and  the  current  increasing  in  volocity 
every  second. 

Commissioner  of  Public  Works  J. 
G.  Stikeleather  and  J.  H.  Wood, 
chief  of  the  fire  department  and 
district  pasenger  agent  of  the  South- 
ern railway,  worked  with  the  men 
to  get  a  guide  rope  from  a  group 
of  loaded  cars  on  the  far  siding  of 
the  railroad  yards,  to  the  nearest 
bark  shed. 

Men  and  women  were  calling  for 
help  from  the  windows  of  the  sec- 
ond stories  of  the  process  house 
about  a  hundred  yards  away,  but 
the  water  was  rising  so  rapidly  and 
flowing  with  such  force  that  it  was 
suicidal  to  attempt  to  cross  with  a 
boat.  A  telephone  wire  running  from 
the  top  of  the  bark  shed  to  the 
process  house  answered  the  purpose 
of  a  lead  for  the  main  guide  rope. 
This  wire  was  cut  and  the  end  of  the 
rope  fastened  to  it,  then  the  maroon- 


26 


THE    NORTH  CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


ed  people  in  the  process  house 
hauled  the  rope  to  them  and  made 
it  fast  to  one  of  the  beams. 

Everett  Frady  volunteered  to  take 
the  boat  across  to  them  and  pulling 
over-hand  worked  the  boat  out  into 
the  middle   of  the   stream. 

The  water  was  rushing  with  such 
force,  however,  as  to  make  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  keep  his  position 
in  the  boat.  Suddenly  it  was  washed 
from  under  him  and  swirled  down 
the  river,  leaving  Frady  clinging  to 
the  rope.  He  steadied  himself  for  a 
moment  and  then  worked  his  way 
over  to  the  process  house. 

Another  boat  was  immediately  pro- 
cured and  Fred  Gasli  prepared  to 
make  the  same  trip.  He  looped 
a  piece  of  rope  around  the  guide 
rope  and  fastened  it  securely  to 
the  bow  of  the  boat,  so  that  he 
could  use  his  hands  freely  in  ma- 
nipulating the   boat. 

Several  of  the  firemen  and  rail- 
road men  stationed  themselves  on 
top  of  the  coal  cars  and  handled  the 
guide  rope  there,  making  it  fast 
around  the  brake  rod,  while  Com- 
missioner Stikeleather  and  Chief 
Wood  with  others  of  the  depart- 
ment stationed  themselves  on  the 
first  bark  shed.  Edward  McDowell, 
foreman  in  the  department,  took 
some  of  his  men  to  the  second  bark 
house,  while  Frady  and  Gash  op- 
erated the  boat.  Thidrty-five  peo- 
ple— men,  women  and  |fchildren — 
were  taken  out  safely  with  this  ar- 
rangement and  ti  was  thought  these 
were  all  when  it  was  discovered  that 
three  men,  two  women  and  a  baby 
were  marooned  in  the  process  house, 
a  brick  building  located  in  the  far 
side  of  the  tannery  grounds.  This 
was  fully  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
the  coal  car  on  which  the  guide 
rope    had    been    fastened.    The    men 


now  started  to  work  their  way  over 
to  these  people.  Gash  and  Frady 
fastened  their  boat  to  the  side  of 
the  process  house  and  crossed  on 
the  roofs  of  the  buildings  until  they 
reached  the  nearest  building  to  the 
brick.  They  cut  a  hole  in  the  roof 
of  this  building,  and  Frady  cut  a 
guy  wire  leading  from  the  metal 
smokestack  and  swung  over  to  some 
drift  wood  and  ties  which  he  used 
to  construct  a  walkway  between  the 
buildings.  Frady  taking  the  baby  in 
his  arms,  and  Gash  and  the  men  lead- 
ing the  women,  they  crossed  the 
roofs  of  the  buildings  and  the  impro- 
vised bridge,  until  they  reached  the 
windows  of  the  process  house  where 
the  boat  was  tied.  A  second  boat 
brought  out  the  other  woman,  now 
drenched  by  a  downpour  of  rain.  The 
men  were  brought  off  in  the  last 
boat. 


W.  W.  Velliness  of  Norfolk,  Va.,  a 
visitor  in  the  city,  was  standing  on 
the  bank  at  the  Glen  Rock  hotel 
when  a  canoe  capsized  with  Lonnle 
Trexler  and  Luther  Frazier,  a  col- 
ored boy.  Stripping  off  his  clothes 
as  he  ran.Vellines  plunged  into  the 
angry  stream  and  swam  75  yards  to 
where  Trexler  was  struggling  for 
life,  but  the  unfortunate  boy  sank 
before  his  rescuer  arrived  and  did 
not  rise.  The  bodies  were  recov- 
ered  by  the  firemen  and  unavailing 
efforts  were  made  to  restore  life. 

Trexler  and  Frazier  had  gone  to 
carry  food  to  the  Glen  Rock.  Hun- 
dreds, helpless,  saw  the  men  go 
down    in    the    muddy    waters. 


Destruction    of    Riverside    Park. 

Riverside   park,   one   of  Asheville's 

playgrounds,    is    no    more.        Trolley 

tracks,  stone   foundations,  masses  of 

debris,  even  an  overturned  car  were 


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THE    NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


27 


jumbled  together  in  wild  chaos.  Riv- 
erside lake  is  a  muddy  pond  now, 
separated  from  the  swift  rush  of  the 
river  by  a  fewbedraggled  trees, 
clinging  to  a  mass  of  sand  and  ruins. 

The  iron  bridge  conecting  Bing- 
ham's school  with  Asheville  disap- 
peared. Not  even  the  concrete  abut- 
ments remain.  The  several  houses 
about  the  lake  are  strewn  over  an 
acre  of  ground  in  a  thousand  pieces. 
The  valley  as  far  as  one  can  see 
looks  like  a  pile  of  desert  sand  cov- 
ered   with    flood-washed    rubbish. 

A  strange  feature  of  the  action  of 
the  water  is  demonstrated  along  the 
double  line  of  tracks  crossing  just  be- 
low the  lake  to  the  park  grounds. 
The  steel  rails  held  together  in  spite 
of  the  rush  of  the  stream.  They  lie 
half  buried  among  a  mass  of  wreck- 
age stronger  probably  than  the  origin- 
al dam.  Not  a  vestige  of  road  ballast 
remains. 

Reuben  Newton  and  his  family 
came  perilously  near  to  losing  their 
lives  in  the  first  rush  of  the  flood. 
Mr.  Newton  owned  a  house  situated 
at  the  eastern  end  of  the  Bingham 
bridge.  The  current  split  about  the 
structure  cutting  it  entirely  off  from 
Asheville  proper  and  threatening 
each  moment  to  tear  the  bridge  from 
its    foundations. 

At  nine  o'clock  Sunday  morning 
Mr.  Newton,  his  wife,  his  son  and 
only  daughter  and  their  negro  cook 
were  in  the  house.  They  failed  to  re- 
alize their  peril  until  all  chance  of 
reaching  the  high  bluff  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  river  had  passed.  Al- 
ready the  bridge  was  straining  and 
groaning  under  the  power  of  the 
stream. 

Mr.  Newton  ordered  his  family 
across  the  bridge,  as  a  last  desperate 
resort.  As  the  party  of  five  rushed 
from    the    structure    on    the    oposite 


shore  there  was  a  terrific  crash  and 
the  bridge  crumbled  into  the  torrent. 

The  Newtons  saved  a  centerpiece 
from  their  dining  table  and  one  val- 
ueless  photograph. 

The  road  connecting  Riverside 
park  with  the  Weaverville  highway 
resembles  a  gravel  pile.  Only  the 
larger  stones  remain,  every  particle 
of   earth    being    swept   away. 

By  actual  measurement,  the  flood 
water  submerging  the  park  reached 
the  ten-foot  mark  above  the  trolley 
line. 

Thomas  Settle,  who  resides  at  "Or- 
ton"  overlooking  the  French  Broad 
river  above  Riverside  park,  was  an 
eye-witness  to  the  destruction  of  the 
Newton  house  on  the  river  at  the 
Asheville  end  of  what  was  formerly 
Pearsons  bridge.  Mr.  Settle  said  that 
he  did  not  get  to  the  river  in  time 
to  see  the  bridge  at  Riverside  park 
go  down  but  was  present  when  the 
Newton  house  floated  down  stream. 

A  remarkable  feature  of  the  rescue 
of  the  family  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Newton 
was  that  it  was  accomplished  across 
the  river  and  that  the  members  of 
the  family,  all  of  whom  were  saved, 
liad  crossed  Pearson  bridge  and 
sought  shelter  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river  as  they  were  unable  to 
make  their  way  from  their  residence 
to  Pearson  drive  on  account  of  the 
deep   waters    flooding    in. 


General     Situation     in     Asheville. 

Monday  morning  dawned  on  a 
strange  and  trying  situation  in  Ashe- 
ville. In  the  whole  city  and  surround- 
ings not  a  wheel  was  turning.  Lamps 
and  candles  had  dimly  lit  a  night  of 
Egyptian  darkness,  when  for  the 
first  time  in  almost  30  years  not  a 
street  light  burned  in  the  city.  Notice 
was  being  made,  not  a  street  car,  of 


28 


THE    NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD, 


course,  was  running,  not  a  train 
pulled  out  and  only  one  aproached — 
a  lone  train  on  the  Murphy  division 
which  came  as  near  to  the  depot  as 
the  westren  end  of  the  railroad 
bridge  over  the  French  Broad,  two 
miles  away.  Railway  officials  could 
not  say  when  it  would  be  possible 
to   run   trains. 

An  alarming  feature  was  the 
shortage  of  public  suplies.  Food  did 
not  at  any  time  run  low,  but  the 
kerosene  and  gasoline  in  town  were 
&oon  exhausted.  In  fact,  the  police 
commandered  the  available  gasoline 
before  it  was  all  sold  out. 

"There's  our  gasoline,"  said  the 
driver  of  a  public  automobile,  point- 
ing out  to  sight-seers  at  the  concrete 
bridge  a  great  tank  car  imbedded  in 
lumber  piled  up  against  the  pier. 

Newspapers  had  to  hand-set  type 
and  get  out  their  papers  on  small 
flat-bed  presses.  The  telegraph  offices 
were  swamped  under  a  deluge  of 
messages  from  visitors  or  residents 
in  Asheville  wishing  to  assure  out-of 
town  friends  that  they  were  safe, 
that  damage  and  loss  of  life  were 
coniined  to  the  river  fronts.  Western 
Union  operators  worked  by  36-hour 
shifts,  two  days  and  a  night  at  a 
time,  all  week,  being  cometimes  as 
much  as  thousands  of  messages  be- 
hind. Extra  operators  could  not  get 
into  town  and  wire  trouble  added  to 
thte    difficulties    encountered. 

There  was  no  means  of  communica- 
tion with  Hendersonville,  Weaver- 
ville.  Black  Mountain,  of  Marshall, 
except  by   foot 

"We  have  food,  air  and  water," 
said  the  citizens.  "Let's  be  thankful 
for  that  and  go  t  owork  and  clean 
up  the  flood  districts  and  appraise 
the    damage." 

Asheville  water  comes  from  the 
slopes     of    Mt.     Mitchell,,     18    miles 


from  the  city  and  hundreds  of  feet 
f,bove  it,  and  unlike  the  situation 
in  flooded  lowland  cities,  the  supply 
was  never  endangered. 


Great     Financiai     Losses. 

Enormous  losses  were  suffered  by 
the  industrial  plants  along  the  banks 
of  the  French  Broad  and  Swannaoa 
rivers  in  and  about  Asheville.  The 
loss  of  the  Citizen's  Lumber  Com- 
pany is  estimated  at  $65,000;  $50,000 
in  the  Asheville  yards  and  $15,000  at 
the  Biltmore  yards.  The  estimate  of 
the  loss  at  the  Hans  Rees  tannery  is 
said  to  be  over  $200,000.  Another 
great  loser  was  the  Asheville  Cotton 
Mills  Company,  whose  loss  is  approx- 
imated at  $75,000  to  $100,000.  The 
National  Casket  Company,  located  on 
the  French  Broad  river,  is  said  to 
have  lost  at  least  $75,000.  The  Caroli- 
na Machinery  Company's  loss  is  esti- 
mated at  over  $75,000.  The  property 
of  the  McEwen  Lumber  Company 
was  damaged  to  the  extent  of  about 
$35,000.  Williams  &  Fulgham  lost 
lumber  valued  at  about  $12,000.  The 
losses  of  the  lumber  companies  at 
Azalea  is  said  to  be  enormous.  The 
Southern  Railway  Company's  loss  at 
the  freight  depot  and  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  concrete  bridge  was  very 
heavy. 

The  loss  at  the  Owl  Drug  store  at 
the  depot  was  $5,000;  the  stock  was 
a  total  loss,  the  fixtures  were  ruined. 
The  water  stood  at  eight  feet  in  the 
store,  making  it  impossible  to  save 
anything. 

Other  plants  on  both  rivers  suffer- 
ed  great   losses. 

The  property  to  the  Southern  was 
enormous. 

It  was  five  days  before  a  car  wheel 
turned  in  Asheville.  On  Thursday 
after  the  flood  the  Weaverville  cars 


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1 1 


THE  NOiRTH  CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


29 


first  came  to  Asheville.  In  about  two 
weeks  the  street  cars  were  put  on 
half-hour  schedules,  in  three  weeks 
on  15  minute  runs.  By  a  strange 
chance,  the  machinery  of  the  power 
houses  was  not  ruined  by  the  sudden 
flooding,  but  weeks  of  hard,  patient, 
intelligent  labor  were  required  to 
clean  out  the  sand  and  mud,  and 
dry  the  transformers,  rotary  convert- 
ers,  and   armateurs. 


Danger    of    Fire    Was    Alarming. 

A  new  and  startling  situation  arose 
after  the  flood,  along  the  water  front 
from  the  railway  station  to  the 
cement  bridge.  Thousands  of  gallons 
of  gasoline,  oil  and  kerosene  soaked 
into  the  lumber  piles,  box  cars,  fac- 
tories and  storehouses.  A  carlessly 
thrown  match,  a  cigarette  butt,  or 
a  spark  from  a  locomotive  and  a 
fire  rivaling  the  flood  horrors  miglit 
instantly   have    sprung    into    life. 

Wednesday  morning  the  situation 
was  most  startling.  A  stream  of  gaso- 
line a  foot  across  was  leaking  from 
one  oil  tank  and  pools  of  the  stuff 
stood  everywhere.  Large  quantities 
of  kerosene  had  also  soaked  into  the 
buildings   and    piles   of  lumber. 

The  danger  of  fire  was  minimized 
by  the  warnings  given  and  the  strict 
precautions  taken  by  the  city  authori- 
ties, as  soon  as  the  dangerous  condi- 
tion  was   realized. 

Rescue  of  a  Boy  Marooned  48  Hours. 

Tom  McDowell,  a  16-year-old  boy 
of  West  Asheville,  was  rescued  Tues- 
day morning  from  the  store  of  J.  C 
Brice,  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
French  Broad  river  near  the  concrete 
bridge,  after  having  been  marooned 
in  the  little  building,  surrounded  by 
the    flood    waters    of      the      French 


Broad  since  early  Sunday  morning. 

McDowell  had  taken  refuse  from 
the  rapidly  rising  waters  in  the 
little  store,  and  his  refuge  became 
his  prison.  The  store  floated  out  into 
the  river,  where  it  jammed  against 
same  trees.  The  water  rose  to  the 
boy's  knees,  to  his  waist,  and  Tom 
sought    higher    ground. 

He  stepped  up  on  the  big  icebox 
in  the  store,  and  then  bethought  him- 
self that  he  might  become  hungry 
before  he  reached  dry  land  again, 
and  wading  and  splashing  about  from 
shelf  to  counter  he  fllled  his  pockets 
with  boxes  crackers,  with  fruit, 
cheese,  and  such  canned  goods  as  he 
could  open.  Thus  prepared  he  re- 
gained the  ice  box  and  laid  the  eat- 
ables on  the  nearest  shelf  within  his 
reach. 

By  this  time  the  water  had  covered 
the  top  of  the  icebox,  and  now  it 
began  creeping  up  again,  to  his 
ankles,  his  knees,  his  waist. 

Alarmed,  the  boy  look(  1  around 
and  tried  to  think  what  he  could  do 
if  the  water  rose  to  the  ceiling  of 
the  store.  An  axe  hanging  on  the 
wall  opposite  gave  him  an  inspira- 
tion. Wading,  half  swimming,  scram- 
bling, splashing,  he  crossed  the  little 
room  and  took  down  the  axe,  and  re- 
turned with  it  to  the  top  of  the  ice- 
box. Holding  the  axe  above  his  head 
he  chopped  a  hole  through  the  shing- 
led roof,  and  as  the  water  reached 
his  armpits  he  placed  a  box  upon  the 
ice  chest,  and  stood  up  on  this  with 
his  head  out  of  the  hole  in  the  roof — 
and   the  water  around  his   neck. 

He  placed  his  eatables  out  on  the 
roof  when  he  chopped  the  hole,  and 
he  coolly  made  a  haerty  meal  while 
looking  out  at  the  scene  of  desolation 
around  him.  Houses,  small  and  large, 
lumber,  logs,  a  mule,  washed  by.  Un- 
til   noon,    cramped,    cold,    faint,    he 


30 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLX)OD. 


maintained  his  critical  and  uncomfor- 
table position;  then  the  waters  be- 
gan to  fall. 

After  awhile  he  could  get  down  on 
the  icedox  again,  then  he  could  wade 
about  on  the  floor,  but  still  the  water 
was  too  deep,  the  current  too  swift, 
for  him  to  venture  out.  All  Sunday, 
Sunday  night,  and  all  day  Monday, 
he  was  a  prisoner  in  his  little  island. 
Tuesday  morning  rescue  parties  out 
in  boats  heard  him  calling  for  help 
and    took    him    to    shore. 

Grave  Situation  At  IVIarshali. 

No  single  town  was  perhaps  harder 
hit  by  the  flood  than  Marshall,  the 
little  village  on  the  French  Broad  ^4 
miles  down  the  river  from  Asheville. 

First  reports  from  Marshall  stated 
that  practically  nothing  but  the  court 
house  was  left  in  this  thriving  little 
town.  Fifty-three  houses  were  said  to 
have  been  carried  away  and  two  lives 
were  reported  lost. 

Marshall  has  practaly  one  street 
and  its  level  is  probably  tifteen  feet 
above  normal  river  tide.  The  railway 
runs  close  to  the  French  Broad,  the 
main  street  is  about  100  feet  from  the 
river. 

High  mountain  ridges  at  Marshall 
make  a  narrow  gorge  in  which 
Marshall  lay  exposed  to  great  danger 
from  unusaually  high  waters.. 

Late  reports  were  that  the  home  oi 
P.  A.  McElroy  and  the  Baptist  church 
on  the  upper  side  of  Main  street  were 
the  only  dry  buildings  in  the  main  part 
of  town. 

It  is  said  that  a  telegram  was  re- 
ceived in  Marshall  giving  warning  or 
the  coming  flood  in  plenty  of  time  lor 
every  one  to  reach  safety.  The  three 
who  lost  their  lives  had  been  in  a  safe 
place  and  as  in  the  case  of  inmates  oi 
the  Lipe  home  at  Biltmore,   had  re- 


turned to  their  home  for  some  purpose, 
and  could  not  again  reach  land. 

A  plank  had  been  laid  from  the  top 
of  the  house  of  James  Guthrie  to  the 
cliff.  Guthrie,  Mrs.  Estelle  Bridges  and 
the  child  who  lost  their  lives,  had  left 
the  house  and  had  been  safe,  but  for 
some  reason  had  gone  back.  While 
they  were  on  top  of  the  house  it  be- 
gan to  move.  They  clung  to  the  Chim- 
ney at  the  end  of  the  house  as  the 
building  moved  away.  The  Chimney 
soon  collapsed.  Had  they  remained  on 
the  house  they  could  have  been  saved 
as  it  washed  against  the  southern  de- 
pot and  stopped. 

W.  A.  West  estimated  that  property 
losses  at  Marshall  amounted  to  about 
$200,000.  Three  or  four  residences  ana 
some  business  houses  were  entirely 
washed  away,  and  parts  of  others  were 
destryed. 

Mr.  West  stated  that  Shelton  & 
Ebbs,  wholsale  grocers,  suffered  most; 
of  their  stock  $8,000  to  $10,000  worth 
floated  down  the  French  Broad  river. 
Bales  of  cotton  from  the  Capitola  Mlg. 
Co.  whirled  rapidly  down  stream  while 
the  waters  were  at  flood  tide  this  firms 
loss  being  estimated  at  $10,000.  The 
two  banks  in  the  town  lound  that  their 
records  and  papers  were  safe.  The 
Marshall  Woodworking  company  was 
a  total  loss. 

Only  two  lives  were  lost;  these  were 
James  Guthrie,  and  Miss  Altha  Briggs, 

The  brick  building  of  the  Marshall 
Motor  company  was  undertmind  an 
one  wall  fell;  the  Presbyterian  church 
left  standing  was  well  coated  with 
mud  on  the  first  floors. 

The  Madison  County  Supply  com- 
pany, wholesale  grocers,  lost  from 
$5,000  to  $6,000.  Others  suffered  heavy 
losses  are  the  Madison  Hardware  com- 
pany $4,000  to  $5,000;  N.  B.  Tweed, 
dry  goods.  $6,000;  J.  W.  Nelson,  gen- 
eral store,  $5,000  to  $6,000;  R.  N,  Ram- 
sey,   hardware,$5,000    to    $6,000;    Mc. 


THE    NOlRTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


31 


Kinney  &Ramsey,  general  store.  |5,uoo 
to  $6,000;  Marshall  Pharmacy,  heavy 
loss;  E.  R.  Tweed,  general  merchan- 
dise, $4,000  to  $5,000;  Ebbs&  Halcom- 
be,  general  merchandise. $5,000  to  $6,- 
000;  Ebbs,  Shelton  &  George,  general 
merchandise,  heavy  loss  including 
building. 

Madison  county  was  hard  hit  in  the 
loss  of  a  number  of  new  bridges  which 
had  recently  been  completed.  A  steel 
re-inforced  concrete  bridge  across  the 
French  Broad  at  Marshall,  just  finished 
and  accepted  by  the  county  commissi- 
oner. Was  wrecked,  three  spans  being 
carried  away.  A  new  bridge  at  Kedmon 
was  also  destroyed.  At  Marshall  the 
river  cut  a  new  channel  through  the 
large  island  in  the  stream  where  a 
great  deal  of  money  had  recently  been 
spent  in  laying  out  an  amusement 
park. 


Marshall.was  forced  to  call  for  out- 
side aid.  Rev.  Calvin  B.  Waller,  U.  u., 
recieved  a  letter  from  S.  Hensley, 
chairman  of  the  Marshall  relief  com- 
mittee asking  that  he  make  an  appeal 
to  the  people  of  Asheville  in  behalf  ot 
the  Marshall  sufferers.  The  appeal  was 
turned  over  to  the  Asheville  reller 
committee  for  action. 

Marshall  was  cut  off  from  the  out- 
side world,  except  by  dirt  roads,  which 
were  in  bad  condition.  The  letter  ot 
Mr.  Hensley  was  sent  from  Marshall 
to  Mars  Hill  and  came  to  Asheville  by 
way  of  "Weaverville. 
Mr.  Hensley's  pathetic  letter  follows; 
"Dr.  C.  B.  Waller, 

"Asheville,  N.  C. 
"Dear  Sir: 

"Our  little  town  is  completely  wreck- 
ed, a  number  of  people  homeless,  with- 
out clothes.  Every  store  almost  slean- 
ed  out,  wholsale  houses  swept  of  most 
that  was  in  them.  We  have  no  flower 
or  meal.   People   in   the   country   are 


bringing  in  some.  No  sugar  in  the 
town.  We  need  meat  and  bread,  cash 
and  so  forth.  Will  not  have  train  for 
three  weeks  or  more  according  to  re- 
ports. If  you  people  could  help  us  we 
will  appreciate  it  very  much  in  this 
hour  of  great  need. 

"Two  drowned  bodies  found,  will 
be  buried  four  p.  m.  Pray  for  us.  Send 
any  contributions  to  S.  T.  Hensley. 
chairman  relief  committee,  via  Mars 
Hill. 

"Sincerely, 

"S.  T.  HENSLEM." 


Carolina   Special,    Maroned   At   Marsh- 
all,   First    Reached    By    Fords. 

Five  automibles  from  Weaversville 
were  the  first  to  reach  the  marooned 
Carolina  Special  Monday  night.  The 
machines  all  Fords,  were  driven  by 
Gleen  West,  Floyd  Fox,  Finley  Fox, 
Pete  Rodgers  and  Troy  West.  Two  or 
the  cars  belonging  to  Will  Reagan, 
two  to  Fred  Brown  and  one  to  Mar- 
shall West.  In  the  party  was  Road 
Supervisor  Lacy  of  the  Southern  rail- 
way. 

The  cars  made  their  way  within 
two  miles  of  the  train  which  was 
stalled  at  Nocona,  four  miles  below 
Marshall.  On  the  way  the  boys  over- 
took a  large  car  loaded  with  provis- 
ions for  the  passengers.  The  larger 
machine  out-stripped  the  Weaverville 
motors  for  awhile,  but  when  it  was 
next  seen  the  car  and  the  food  had 
been  deserted  where  the  car  had 
broken  down. 

Taking  the  food     with     them,     the 

smaller  cars  proceeded  as  far  as  there 

was  a  road.   On   the   return  trip   the 

machines    brought    four    passengers 

each  to  Asheville. 


The  crews  of  the  Southern  railway's 
Carolina  Special  at  Nacona  and  oi 
two  freight  trains  which  were  brought 


32 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


up  to  Nocona  from  futher  down  ttie 
river  reached  Asheville  Thursday 
evening  coming  by  way  of  Ford  auto- 
mobiles through  Mars  Hill  and  Weav- 
erville.  There  were  20  members  oi 
the  three  crews.  Gleen  West,  Troy 
Fox,  Floyd  Fox,  Peter  Rogers,  the 
same  Weaverville  chauffeurs  that 
made  the  trip  ,  Tuesday  and  Drought 
back  20  passengers  of  the  Carolina 
Special,  drove  the  cars  in  which  train- 
men were  brought  to  Asheville. 

The  chaffeurs  stated  that  the  last 
trip  was  rougher  than  the  first  and 
that  three  times  on  the  return  trip 
the  passengers  had  to  walk  a  short 
distance. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  R.  Fox  of  Cincinnati 
coming  to  Asheville  on  the  Carolina 
Special  were  caught  by  the  water  Sun- 
day at  Nocona  and  were  forced  together 
with  the  rest  of  the  passengers  to  take 
to  the  mountain  although  the  train  has 
been  moved  to  the  highest  track  from 
the  water.  There  was  fear  of  the  dam 
at  Marshall  breaking,  but  by  night 
the  water  seemed  to  be  at  a  standstill 
and  the  passengers  returned  to  the 
cars  for  the  night,  although  the  water 
was  up  to  the  platform  of  the  cars. 

Food  on  the  dining  car  was  very 
scarce  and  two  scanty  meals  a  day 
were  allowed  to  each  person.  The  food 
lasted  until  Monday  morning.  Scout- 
ing parties  scoured  the  surrounding 
country  and  succeeded  in  getting  en- 
ough together  with  the  food  sold  to 
the  passengers  by  the  mountaineers  to 
last  until  the  next  morning. 

Tuesday  morning  the  passengers 
walked  to  the  dam  where  they  found 
■wagons  furnished  by  the  Southern 
railroad  to  take  them  to  Walkers  <iap. 
Automibiles  were  waiting  there  to 
bring  them  to  Asheville.  The  trip  to 
Asheville  was  the  roughest  and  mud- 
diest they  had  ever  experienced  Mr. 
Fox  stated.  There  was  only  one  road 


bridge  washed  away  and  the  guliy 
was  crossed  by  means  of  planks.  Only 
by  the  wonderful  driving  of  the  chauf- 
feurs was  the  trip  accomplished.  Mrs. 
Fox  stated  that  she  had  never  seen 
such  experienced  and  competent  driv- 
ers as  the  North  Carolina  ones. 

Mr.  Fox  said  the  only  buildings  left 
were  the  brick  ones  back  from  the 
river. 


Up    The    Swannanoa.    River   Changed 
Course. 

The  entire  course  of  the  Swannanoa 
river  was  changed  at  two  places  near 
Asheville,  At  Swannanoa  and  at  the 
Cheesborough  residence  on  the  river 
this  strange  occurance  took  place 
and  as  a  result  in  the  latter  case  a 
quaint  old  spring  house,  built  by  the 
great-grandfather  of  the  present  gen- 
eration of  the  Cheesborough  family 
and  in  use  for  one  hundred  years  or 
more,  was  carried  down  stream  and 
utterly  demolished. 

Heavy  pieces  of  furniture  such  as 
the  piano  in  the  residence  of  the 
Cheesborough  family  were  swept  down 
stream  in  the  new  channel  formed 
by  the  flood  and  the  lives  of  the 
Misses  Cheesborough  and  their  bro- 
ther, Joe  Cheesborough  would  not 
have  been  spared,  except  for  the 
bravery  of  Hosea  Helton  and  members 
of  his  family,  who  are  of  Indian  de- 
scent, and  have  moved  into  the  Fair- 
view  vicinity  from  the  Cherokee  re- 
servation. 

The  Helton's  rescued  the  Chees- 
brough  family  at  the  risk  of  their 
lives.  They  made  a  boat,  and  by 
skillful  handling  of  the  frail  craft  in 
the  swift  current,  got  the  family 
safely  across  the  river  which  had 
swept  around  behind  their  Cheesbro- 
ough  home. 

F.  McL.  Fatten  made  a  trip  on  foot 
to  his  farm  of  700  acres  at  Swannanoa 


THE    NORTH  CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


33 


to  inspect  the  damage  wrought  by  tue 
Btorm  and  flood. 

Mr.  Patton  stated  that  the  main 
highway  in  this  section  was  entirely 
washed  out,  the  river  cutting  tour 
feet  or  more  into  the  roadbed  and 
many  places  being  made  entirely  im- 
passable except  on  foot.  Some  i5U 
acres  of  land  owned  by  Mr.  Fatten 
in  the  river  bottom  covered  with  a 
fine  corn  crop  was  destroyed.  The 
buildings  on  the  farm  are  on  the  moun- 
tain side  and  these  with  some  80  head 
of  cattle  remained  safe.  On  the  corn 
lands  the  river  left  a  deposit  of  sand 
four  or  five  feet  deep  and  a  small 
rivulet  which  runs  through  the  farm 
and  is  a  tributary  to  the  Swannanoa 
river  rose  to  remarkable  proportions 
and  cut  out  a  gulley  some  30  feet  iu 
width  on  its  course  to  the  river. 

Several  peach  trees  in  his  orchard 
were  uprooted  by  landslides  during 
the  storm. 


Police  Court  Clerk  George  Digges 
jr.,  left  Asheville  on  horseback  Friday 
after  the  fiood  following  receipt  ot 
several  letters  from  Azalea.  Swanna- 
noa and  points  between  telling  oi 
Buffering  among  flood  reffergees  in 
that  district. 

Mr.  Digges  said  that  the  fact  that 
damage  to  farm  lands  in  the  most  fer- 
tile part  of  the  state  will  be  great  was 
plainly  evdent.  The  course  of  the  flood 
waters  along  the  former  peacetui 
stream,  the  Swannanoa,  was  marked 
by  a  trail  of  ruined  farms. 

Great  holes  had  been  torn  in  the 
fields.  Tons  upon  tons  of  great  rocks 
torn  from  their  lodging  places  by  the 
water  covered  the  productive  farm 
lands.  Massive  trees,  their  powerful 
roots  snapped  like  twigs  by  the  flood 
waters,  were  tossed  about  like  chips 
Along  the  banks  of  the  swollen  stream 
barns  and  frequently  dwelling  houses 
were  strewn. 


Making  his  way  through  to  Azalea 
Mr.  Diggs  secured  a  boat  and  crossea 
the  turbulent  waters  into  this  former 
little  hive  of  lumbermen. 

The  lumber  plants  here  sufllered 
great  losses.  Thousands  and  thousands 
of  feet  of  lumber  had  been  carriea 
down  the  stream.  Workingmen  were 
engaged  in  cleaning  out  the  mill  and 
adjusting  the  machinery  which  had 
ben  tossed  about  the  mill  by  the  flood 
waters  which  according  to  residents 
of  that  village,  rushed  through  the 
place  with  the  speed  of  an  express 
train. 

Three  fine  automibles  had  been 
caught  in  the  flood.  The  machines  had 
been  anchored  to  trees  so  strange  to 
say,  were  but  sligtly  damaged.  Bevrai 
box  cars  load  with  lumber  had  been 
caught  in  the  path  of  the  water  and 
turned  over. 

Several  dwellings  had  been  carried 
away  by  the  flood  their  occupants 
barely  having  time  to  escape  with 
their  lives  and  being  left  helpless. 

Mr.  Digges,  after  investigationg  con- 
ditions, left  merchandise  orders  tor 
the  most  needy. 

About  a  mile  this  side  of  Swannanoa 
the  party  had  a  thrilling  experience. 
A  large  creek  running  out  at  terrific 
speed  had  overflowed  its  banks.  The 
creek  was  still  rising.  Plunging  in  the 
members  of  the  party  succeeded  in. 
reaching  the  opposite  shore  of  the 
mad  stream  but  not  without  danger 
as  their  mounts  frequently  stepped 
into  quicksand  holes  and  were  held 
up  with  difficulty.  At  Swannanoa  aboat 
was  secured  and  at  9  o'clock  Mr. 
Digges  started  out  on  a  search  for  the 
needy. 

Conditions  at  Swannanoa  were 
about  the  same  as  in  Azelea.  Several 
homes  had  been  reduced  to  huge  piles 
of  broken  lumber.  The  occupants  had 
escaped  with  their  lives  but  had  been 
unable  to  save  any  of  their  personal 


34 


THE   NORTH  CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


property.  The  more  fortunate  citizens 
had  responded  nobly  to  the  needs  or 
the  refugees  and  were  rendering  valu- 
able aid,  Orders  for  a  week's  supply 
for  the  most  needy  were  left. 

Mr.  Digges  then  started  on  the  re- 
turn trip.  He  was  warned  on  nearing 
the  swoolen  creek  that  to  attempt  to 
ford  the  stream  at  night  would  be 
tempting  fate.  Then  started  a  long 
walk  to  Asheville  along  the  roadbed 
of  the  Southern  railroad. 

After  walking  about  two  miles  Mr. 
Digges  secured  a  hand  car  and  there 
began  a  wild  ride  to  reach  Asheville 

After  two  hours  the  parts  reached 
Biltmore,  worm  out  physically  but 
happy — a  day's  work  well  done. 


First  News   Carried    By  Couriers. 

In  the  first  few  days  after  the  hooa 
men  began  to  come  on  foot  into  Ashe- 
ville from  nearby  points  to  tell  the 
news  and  to  hear  the  news.  These 
couriers  secured  copies  of  the  Ashe- 
ville papers  and  carried  them  back 
with  them  to  Hendersonville,  Black 
Mountain,  Old  Fort,  and  Marshall. 
They  sold  these  papers  for  as  much 
as  $1.00  per  copy,  or,  mounted  on  flat 
cars  at  depots  or  boxes  in  stores,  reaa 
them  aloud  to  throngs  of  people;  or, 
they  rented  them  out  for  ten  minutes 
at  a  time,  at  10  cents  a  "read". 

W.  F.  Randolph,  secretary  of  the 
Massonic  bodies  of  Asheville  and  an 
old  newspaper  man,  walked  to  Ashe- 
ville from  Black  Mountain,  clinging 
to  fences  and  easing  across  shaky 
trestles,  in  his  hunger  for  news. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  returned  to 
Asheville  Saturday,  after  having  ben 
maroned  at  Marion  one  week. 

They  went  on  train  No.  12,  which 
left  Asheville  at  2:35  p.  m.  Saturday. 
The  train  went  as  far  as  Nebo,  and 
was  brought  back  to  Marion,  Most  ot 
the  passengers  spent  the  first  night  on 
the  train.   On  Sunday,   the   people  or 


Marion  threw  open  their  houses,  and 
every  one  had  a  place  to  stay,  and  had 
plenty  of  good  food.  A  committee  ot 
citizens  saw  that  every  comfort  possi- 
ble was  given  the  stranded  travelers. 
He  said  the  hospitality  and  splendid 
spirit  shown  by  the  people  of  Marion 
could  not  have  been  surpassed. 

There  was  no  telephone  or  tele- 
graphic communications  until  late 
Wednesday  afternoon. 

The  first  train  out  of  Marion  was 
Thursday  afternoon  over  the  Southern 
Railway.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  took 
that  train  to  Rutherfordton;  went  to 
Spartanbury  by  automible;  then  to 
Tryon  by  rail.  From  Tryon  they  came 
to  Hendersonville  walking  and  riding 
on  work  trains  and  then  from  Hen- 
dersonville by  automible. 

B.  B.  Gresham,  proprietor  of  Lake 
Kanuga  summer  colony  settlement, 
made  a  trip  from  Tyron  to  Asheville 
by  automible  Wednesday.  The  jour- 
ney was  attended  with  great  difficul- 
ties, Mr.  Graham  stated,  the  road  b^ 
ing  washed  away  at  many  points  The 
railway  on  the  Tryon  side  was  in  bad 
condition,  according  to  what  Mr.  Gres- 
ham saw:  at  one  place  he  said  that 
the  entire  side  of  the  mountain  is  gone 
leaving  no  signs  of  the  roadbed. 

Lake  Kanuga  did  not  break  until 
about  10  o'clock  Sunday  morning, 
said  Mr.  Gresham.  A  half  hour  later 
Mr.  Gresham  had  the  news  of  the 
broken  dam  on  the  wire  to  warn 
Asheville. 

W.  C.  Brown  of  the  American  Feed 
Milling  company  who  returned  to 
Asheville  form  Spartanburg  Tuesday 
in  company  with  five  others,  told  & 
thrilling  story  of  transportation  con- 
ditions along  the  way. 

He  said:  "I  left  Spartanburg  ror 
Tyron  Tuesday  morning  aboard  a  lo- 
cal train  in  an  attempt  to  reach  Ashe- 
ville and  my  milling  interests.  The 
trip  to  the  latter  town  was  uneventrui 


THE    NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


35 


except  for  the  evidence  everwtiere 
of  water  damage. 

"In  Tyron  I  discovered  that  all 
railroads  and  mountain  roads  beyond 
were  washed  away  and  it  would  t)e 
necessary  to  proceed  either  on  horse- 
back or  on  foot.  We  made  up  a  little 
party  of  six  consisting  of  Mr.  Hanckel 
of  Charleston,  Mr.  Chipley  of  New 
Orleans,  H.  H.  Eubank  of  New  Or- 
leans and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Roper  of  Mon- 
ticello.  We  also  took  along  two  guides 
and  two  pack  horses  besides  the 
horses  we  rode. 

"I  can  hardly  discribe  the  difficul- 
ties we  encountered  in  the  mountains. 
In  many  places  we  were  forced  to 
dismount  and  lead  our  animals  across 
dangerous  rock  outcroppings  and 
wasbouts  Mrs.  Roper  stood  the  trip 
bravely  and  rivaled  the  men  in  cool 
nerve. 

"The  road  was  an  old  abandoned 
logging  trail  overgrown  with  busbes 
and  blocked  by  boulders  and  land 
slides.  At  many  points  trees  had  fallen 
across  it  which  made  long  and  ardu- 
ous detours  necessary. 

"We  reached  Saluda  dead  tired  with 
a  profound  respect  for  the  courage  oi 
the  settlers  of  old  who  crossed  the 
continent.  There  we  left  our  mounts 
and  went   to     Hendersonville     afoot. 

"To  appreciate  the  terrible  condi- 
tion of  the  railroad  right  of  way  one 
must  see  the  destruction  between 
these  two  points.  At  one  place,  the 
river  had  completely  washed  away  the 
embankment  and  the  rails  hung  alone, 
suspected  30  feet  in  the  air  for  a  dis- 
tance of  200  or  more  feet.  AH  along 
the  line  we  came  across  holes  20  to 
30  feet  in  depth  and  as  much  as  100 
feet  in  breadth.  Telegraph  poles  hung 
at  rakish  angles  with  wires  drooping, 
signal  towers  lay  half  buried  in  mud 
and  clay  and  drift  and  cross-ties  were 
often  torn  completely  from  under  the 


rails   and   hurled   down   the   embank- 
ment. 


"I  saw  a  large  force  of  inen~work- 
ing  on  the  tracks  near  Saluda  moun- 
tain,, but  their  progress  seemed  snail- 
like  in  clearing  away  the  masse  or 
debrise. 

"It  seemed  to  me  that  the  Southern 
will  have  to  build  a  complete  new  bed 
for  many,  many  miles — that  at  least 
two  weeks  must  elapse  before  pass- 
enger service  can  be  renewed  between 
Asheville  and  Spartanburg.  I  want  to 
say,  however,  that  the  Southern  sys- 
tem is  doing  all  in  himan  power  to 
take  care  of  her  passengers  and  put 
its  lines  in  order.  The  company  stated 
its  willingness  to  me  to  sell  me  a  tick- 
et any  roimd-about  way  I  suggested 
to  bring  me  home  at  the  regular  rate 
to  Asheville.  Considering  that  the  rail- 
road is  the  hardest  hit  of  any  of  the 
corporations,  this  is  to  my  mind,  a 
pretty  generous  offer. 

F.  0.  Ammons  of  Asheville,  who 
told  a  remarkable  story  of  his  travels, 
arrived  in  town  Wednesday  from 
Mount  Holly.  He  says  he  "skinned 
mules."  "cooned  rails,"  "relayed  in 
buggies"  and  "hoofed  it"  to  reach  the 
mountain  city.  Mr.  Ammons  counted 
42  washouts  due  to  cloud  burst  be- 
tween Rutherfodton  and  Asheville. 

At  North  Thermal  City  the  South- 
ern tracks  were  washed  for  half  a  mile 
or  more  and  the  road-bed  strewn  with 
huge  boulders.  In  Marion  several  per- 
sons lost  their  lives  The  dead  were 
Mr.  McGee,  Mrs.  McGee  (mother)  and 
two  children.  Their  house  which  was 
near  the  river  bank  was  turned  com- 
pletely over  by  the  flood  and  the 
family  buried  beneath.  A  prominent 
farmer  named  McKinney  and  his  one 
child  were  also  drowned.  In  Marion 
the  electric  lights  were  cut  off  and  all 
water  had  to  be  brought  in  buckets 
to  the  city  from  a  point  a  mile  and  a 


-36 


THE    NORTH  CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


half  distant.  J.  L.  Morgan  of  that  town 
lost  175,000  in  cattle  and  crop. 

C.  R.  Edney  and  R.  Y.  Tilson  arriv- 
ed in  Asheville  Thursday  morning 
from  Morganton,  having  left  that  place 
Wednesday  at  noon  on  foot  for  Ashe- 
ville. No  lives  were  lost  at  Morgan- 
ton,  but  the  Asheville  men  told  a  story 
of  daring  rescues  from  those  who  were 
marooned  in  their  homes  by  the  Ca- 
tawba river.  One  man,  Fons  Duck- 
worth was  hemmed  in  a  building  sur- 
rounded by  water  a  half  mile  each 
way  to  land.  He  was  finally  saved  by 
Will  Clark,  who  refused  a  reward  if 
$12,000  for  his  work.  Eight  people 
were  rescued  from  the  river. 

A  cotton  mill  near  the  town  lost  5UU 
bales  of  cotton  and  there  was  some 
damage  to  industries  all  along  the 
river. 

Edney  and  Tilson  told  an  interesting 
story  of  a  family,  including  a  little 
baby,  carried  by  the  flood  waters  or 
Linville  river  Sunday  night.  Next 
morning  a  searching  party  found  the 
baby  and  its  mother  on  a  pile  of  debris 
in  an  eddy  of  the  stream;  both  were 
alive  and  as  comforable  as  the  unuseal 
conditions  warranted. 


Heroic   Work   Of   The   Southern    Rail- 
Road  Restoration  Of  Traffic 

All  this  time  the  Southern  was  send- 
ing literally  thousands  of  laborers, 
work  cars  and  cars  of  materials  out 
on  every  line  in  a  mighty  effort  to  re- 
store them  to  normal.  The  work  was  a 
struggle  with  landslides  and  washouts. 
"The  landslides  did  not  bother  us, 
said  a  road  inspector.  "A  big  gang  ol 


men  with  picks  and  shovels  could  soon 
clear  them  away  and  there  was  the 
track  uninjured.  But  the  work  we  did 
building  up  a  new  roadbed  where  tons 
and  tons  of  earth  had  vanished  from 
beneath  the  track  and  left  'grapevine 
trestles'  hanging  from  cliff  to  cliir, 
was  nothing  less  than  giganic." 

Passengers  were  allowed  to  ride  free 
on  work  trains,  were  ferried  across 
rivers  where  bridges  were  missing, 
and  were  carried  over  longer  routes 
than  their  tickets  called  for  without 
additional  charge,  in  the  effort  of  the 
Southern  Railway  to  do  all  it  could 
for  its  patrons. 

The  damage  from  Old  Fort  to  Ridge- 
crest  was  stated  to  be  the  most  serious 
on  the  entire  line.  Here  it  was  nec- 
essary to  transport  food  in  wagOns,  or 
light  automobils  many  miles  over  al- 
most impassable  roads  to  feed  the 
gangs  of  men  working  on  the  steep 
mountain  sides  in  isolated  regions. 

Over  the  Murphy  division  food,  ice 
and  mail  were  transported,  the  only 
outlet  to  Asheville  and  passengers 
journeyed  in  safety.  Forces  worked 
out  of  Asheville  in  the  direction  or 
Knoxville  and  out  of  Knoxville  in  the 
direction  of  Asheville,  thus  all  lines 
In  trouble  were  covered  at  the  same 
time. 

Regular  train  service  between  Ashe- 
ville and  Black  mountain  was  institut- 
ed July  24. 

The  first  train  to  Knoxville,  after  the 
one  which  raced  down  the  river  giving 
warning  of  the  flood  July  16,  moved 
Aug.  5,  Daily  service  to  Spartanburg 
and  to  Toxaway  were  resumed  Aug.  t>, 
from  Old  Fort  to  Salisbury,  Aug.  8, 


Morganton,  Marion  and  Vicinity 


ByF.  C   ABBOTT 


On  Saturday  morning,  July  the  15tli, 
I  had  planned  to  take  the  early  train 
via  Statesville  to  Black  Mountain  to 
spend  Sunday  with  my  family  at  Rob- 
ert E.  Lee  Hall  at  Blue  Ridge. 

The  storm  at  Charlotte,  however, 
had  been  so  severe  for  twenty-four 
hours  that  It  seemed  wise  to  wait 
over  another  train  and  meanwhile  con- 
sult the  Southern  office  as  to  possible 
wash-outs  on  the  mountain  lines,  and 
also,  the  weather  ^JiUieau  as  to  the 
continuance  of  the  storm.  Just  there  I 
"slipped  a  cog"  for  if  I  had  taken  the 
morning  train  I  would  have  safely 
reached  Black  Mountain  that  after 
noon  and  have  been  saved  the  experi- 
ence which  followed,  and  also  saved 
my  family  much  anxiety. 

The  weather  man  told  me  that  the 
(Storm  was  moving  westward  and 
would  center  over  Asheville  that 
night  but  would  clear  up  on  Sunday. 
Mr.  Witherspoon  at  the  depot  told  me 
that  there  were  no  delays  or  trouble 
on  the  line  reported.  Both  statements 
were  correct. 

No  one  now  doubts  that  the  storm 
centered  over  Asheville  and  vicinity 
that   Saturday   night. 

At  Barber's  Junction  about  two 
o'clock  we  passed  the  train  from  Ashe 
ville  which  had  come  through  that 
morning,  which  proved  the  statement 
that  there  was  no  trouble  on  the  line 
up  to  that  time. 

NOTE — This  article  was  published 
in  The  Charlotte  News,  Sunday,  Aug. 
6,  and  is  reproduced  here  by  permis- 
sion. 


Mr.  P.  S.  Gilchrist  joined  me  as 
we  left  the  Charlotte  station  at  11:55, 
also  headed  for  Black  Mountain  to 
join  his  family  at  Montreat. 

Leaving  Barber's  Junction  for  the 
west  we  soon  overtoook  the  storm 
moving  v/estward,  and  it  was  fully  up 
to  the  standard  of  the  rain  which  had 
just   passed   over   Charlote. 

Every  little  stream  was  a  torrent, 
every  creek  a  river,  and  when  we  came 
in  sight  of  the  Catawba  it  was  already 
out  of  its  banks  and  over  the  tops  of 
the  growing  corn  in  the  lands  adjoin- 
ing, and  finally  almost  up  to  the  level 
of  the  railroad  tracks  and  close  up 
to  the  bridge  when  we  reached  that 
point.  We  had  no  thought  of  danger, 
having  been  going  up  and  down  the 
road  for  years  to  the  mountains.  Be- 
yond the  Catawba  we  ran  slowly  over 
several  suspicious  places  on  the  road, 
and  finally,  just  beyond  Conelly 
Springs,  came  to  a  standstill,  and 
after  a  brief  investigation  the  train 
was  ordered  back  to  Connelly  Springs 
for  the  night. 

First    News    of    Trouble    at    Connelly 
Springs. 


Fifty  of  us  picked  up  our  grips  and 
made  a  hasty  rush  through  the  train 
to  the  hotel  and  although  it  was  Sat- 
urday night  and  past  the  supper  hour, 
the  electric  lights  disabled.  Landlord 
Davis  rose  to  the  occasion  and  soon 
had  us  comfortable  for  the  night  al- 
though in  some  cases  four  in  a  room. 
It  continued  to  rain  steadily,  heavily, 
furiously,   all   night   long,  but  toward 


XXXVII 


38 


THE    NORTH  CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


noon  on  Sunday  the  clouds  began  to 
break.  We  learned  early  in  tbe  morn- 
ing that  the  steel  bridge  over  the  Ca- 
tawba, over  which  we  had  passed  a 
few  hours  before  had  gone  down. 

We  had  news  also  of  the  disaster  at 
Rhodhiss  mill,  and  that  a  county 
bridge  near  by,  thirty-five  feet  above 
the  river  had  gone  down  and  the 
high  water  mark  was  fifteen  feet  above 
where  the  bridge  had  been. 

We  tried  to  telephone  or  telegraph 
our  people  as  to  where  we  were  ma 
rooned,  but  could  only  reach  Hickory 
on  the  east  and  Morganton  on  the 
west,  all  wires  being  down  from  those 
points. 

Monday,  finding  that  we  were  still 
tied  up,  I  called  up  Mr.  J.  A.  Martin 
of  Hickory  and  asked  about  the  re- 
port as  to  the  Rhodhiss  mill,  and  he 
confirmed  the  news  and  added  that 
several  mills  lower  down  the  river 
were  reported  wrecked,  and  also  gave 
us  the  startling  news  that  all  four 
bridges  out  of  Charlotte  over  the  Ca- 
tawba were  gone.  We  began  to  real- 
ize that  there  had  been  "some"  flood, 
and  to  wonder  when  our  train  would 
proceed.     A    number   of    people    from 

Charlotte  and  other  points  of  the 
state  were  at  the  hotel,  among  them 
Mr.  F.  N.  Tate  of  High  Point  who  had 
started  for  Chicago  and  Grand  Rapids. 
He  announced  early  Monday  morning 
that  he  was  going  back  to  High  Point, 
by  automobile  forty  miles  to  Lincoln- 
ton,  then  to  Mount  Holly,  where  he 
hoped  to  cross  the  river  as  a  friend 
there  had  a  motor  boat.  His  driver  re- 
turned that  night  and  reported  his 
safe  arrival  at  Lincolnton,  and  con- 
firmed the  report  as  to  bridges  gone. 

Mr.  Gilchrist  and  I  discussed  our  sit- 
uation fully  and  finally  decided  on 
Tuesday  morning  that  he  would  make 
his  way  back  to  Charlotte  as  best  he 
could,  and  so  get  news  to  both  his  of- 
fice and  mine,  and  I  would  work  my 


way  to  Black  Mountain,  so  as  to  ad- 
vise both  families  that  we  were  still 
alive. 

I  feel  quite  certain  now  that  Mr. 
Gilchrist  had  the  best  end  of  the  bar- 
gain, although  I  have  not  yet  heard 
his  story. 

He  started  for  Lincolnton  by  auto- 
mobile, and  I,  by  automobile,  for  Ma- 
rion, where  our  conductor  assured  me 
that  I  would  be  able  to  transfer  to  the 
Asheville  train,  as  he  learned  before 
the  wires  went  down  Saturday  night 
that  the  train  had  come  down  the 
mountain  all  right.  Little  he  knew  of 
what  had  happened. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Lindsay  of  the  Durham 
Traction  Company  of  Durham,  decided 
to  join  me  on  the  trip,  as  his  family 
was  at  Ridge  Crest  and  would  be  wor- 
rying about  his  non-arrivai  on  Satur- 
day night. 

We  had  only  mild  adventures  be- 
tween Connelly  Springs  and  Morgan- 
ton.  Were  stranded  in  a  creek  at  one 
place  but  managed  by  combined  ef- 
forts of  driver  and  passengers  to  pull 
out-  At  another  point,  learning  that 
the  creek  ahead  was  impossible  we 
rode  along  the  steep  slope  of  the  rail- 
road embankment  through  grass  and 
bushes.  Mr.  Lindsey  shifted  his  two 
hundred  pounds  to  the  seat  on  the 
uphill  side  of  the  car,  while  I  rode  on 
the  step  on  the  same  side,  which  help- 
ed to  keep  us  from  turning  over.  We 
found  a  path  into  an  orchard,  ran 
through  this  and  the  back  yard  of  a 
farmer's  home,  up  a  lane  and  to  the 
highway  again,  which  was  in  very  fair 
condition  to  Morganton. 

Enormous  Damage  to  Valleys  Around 
Morganton. 

Here  we  found  Dr.  Robey  marooned, 
and  learned  of  the  enormous  damage 
in  the  valley  below  Morganton.  The 
beautiful  valley  farms  seemed  to  be  en- 
tirely  ruined,   buildings   wrecked   and 


ON  THE   SOUTHERN    RAILWAY     NEAR     THE     TOP     OF     THE 
MOUNTAINS. 
This  track  hangs  sixty  feet  in  the  air,   looking  from   below. 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


39 


washed  away,  land  washed  into  ridges 
and  covered  deep  with  sand.  Among 
other  things  stranded  there  from  up 
the  river  was  a  car  of  furniture  sup- 
posed to  have  been  washed  out  from  a 
freight  train  at  Bridgewater  eight 
miles  away  and  also  a  large  white 
steamer  automobile  with  no  address 
attached. 

We  changed  drivers  and  machines 
at  this  point,  having  been  directed  to 
the  garage  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Pipkin,  and  he 
at  once  agreed  to  try  to  get  us  to  Ma- 
rion. 

Now  just  a  lin^^bout  the  said  Mr. 
Pipkin.  We  learned  from  various 
sources,  and  but  little  from  him,  that 
he  was  the  hero  of  the  occasion  at 
Morganton.  He  had  just  come  through 
from  Charlotte  in  his  car,  during  the 
storm,  arriving  home  late  Friday 
night. 

On  Saturday  night  he  was  awakened 
and  told  of  the  danger  of  several  fam- 
ilies down  the  valley.  With  several 
companions  he  hustled  down  to  a  plan- 
ing mill  and  took  forcible  possession, 
over  the  protest  of  the  watchman,  of 
the  lumber  to  build  a  boat.  He  stayed 
up  all  night  and  completed  an  eighteen 
foot  boat,  so  well  built  that  it  leak- 
ed not  a  drop  when  launched  into  the 
Catawba  river.  AH  day  Sunday,  and 
Sunday  night,  and  part  of  Monday,  he 
was  in  the  river  and  on  the  river, 
taking  people  *rom  their  flooded 
homes,  and  rescued  men,  women  and 
children  from  dangerous  positions. 
This  was  the  man  who  had  agreed  to 
take  us  to  Marion,  and  a  more  re- 
would  be  hard  to  find,  and  his  lead- 
ing mechanic,  Mr.  Ernest  Hallman, 
who  also  went  with  us,  was  a  good 
sourceful,  energetic  man  of  nerve 
second. 

When  we  finally  arrived  at  Marion 
we  were  convinced  that  a  Ford  car, 
with  Mr.  Pipkin  to  drive  and  Mr.  Hall- 
man  as  assistant,  could  be  made  to  do 


about   anything   but   climb   a   tree   or 
cross  the  ocean. 

We  surmounted  insurmountable  diffi- 
culties, we  got  by  immovable  obstacles 
we  drove  up  and  down  impossible  plac- 
es, and  without  a  break  or  puncture 
of  the  new  set  of  tires.  A  few  Il- 
lustrations I  will  give  you  of  the  trip 
between  Morganton  and  Marion. 

From    Morganton  to   Marion    Eventful 
Trip. 


We  had  no  sooner  crossed  the 
bridge  below  Morganton,  one  of  the 
very  few  then  standing  in  Burke 
county,  than  we  fell  into  a  very 
"slough  of  despond."  The  entire  road- 
bed over  which  the  flood  had  passed 
was  for  200  yards  buried  in  the  most 
slimy,  sticky  mud,  of  the  consistency 
of  thick  molasses.  We  plunged  along 
about  50  feet  and  stalled  with  the  mud 
over  the  running  gear,  and  thought  our 
journey  was  ended  almost  before  it 
had  begun.  But  the  enterprising  coun- 
ty ofliciala  of  Burke,  aware  of  condi- 
tions, had  prepared  to  aid  travelers. 
A  heavy  mule  team  was  close  at  hand 
and  the  driver  came  at  once  to  our 
rescue.  He  backed  up  his  team,  threw 
us  the  end  of  a  heavy  chain,  which 
was  promptly  attached  to  our  front 
axle,  and  away  we  went,  mule  power 
ahead,  and  full  power  on  our  engine, 
until  we  ploughed  our  way  out  and 
took  the  road  again. 

All  went  well  to  Glen  Alpine,  and 
there  we  were  informed  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  reach  Bridgewater,  as 
bridges  were  gone  and  two  miles  of 
the  Southern  track  washed  away,  but 
by  keeping  to  the  hills  and  following 
old  roads  and  fords,  instead  of  new 
highways,  where  all  bridges  were 
gone,  we  might  run  around  Bridgewa- 
ter and  reach  Marion,  where  we  still 
expected  to  take  a  train  to  Ashe- 
ville. 


40 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


"You  Can't  Do  It,  It's  Impossible"  But 
We  Did. 


A  countryman  came  along  just  then 
and  said,  "You  can't  do  it,  it  is  im- 
possible, bridges  are  gone,  fords  im- 
passable, you  will  just  have  to  go 
back.  Why,"  he  added,  "I  tried  to  get 
across  there  this  morning  with  my 
team  and  I  pulled  the  tongue  off  my 
wagon  and  the  neighbors  had  to  jacK 
my  wagon  out  one  side  the  creek  and 
my  team  the  other."  Our  driver  took 
it  all  in,  asked  a  question  or  two  as 
to  directions,  and  said,  "Come  on,  let's 
go,"  and  off  we  started.  The  country- 
man was  right  about  the  ford,  and 
presently  we  fell  in  all  right.  Our 
wheels  on  one  side  in  the  quick  sand 
almost  over  their  tops,  tilting  our  ma- 
chine partly  over  on  its  side. 

We  sent  for  a  team  again,  but  could 
locate  none  in  the  neighborhood.  We 
picked  up  a  stout  sapling  near  the 
stream,  found  a  broad  plank  and  a  rail 
and  with  the  help  of  a  mountaineer 
who  lived  near  by,  we  got  a  leverage 
under  the  car  with  the  sapling,  raised 
the  wheels  until  we  could  shove  the 
plank  under,  scraped  away  a  part  of 
the  sand  from  the  other  wheels  with 
our  hands,  and  finally  by  the  combin- 
ed efforts  of  the  five  of  us,  got  a  start, 
ran  through  the  creek  and  up  the  op- 
posite bank  and  were  off  again. 

We  climbed  hills,  where  three  had 
to  push  while  one  drove,  and  drove 
down  hills  on  cross  roads  through  the 
woods  where  we  had  to  fill  the  ruts 
with  old  rails  and  limbs  from  trees  to 
keep  our  running  gear  off  the  ground, 
and  stranded  once  or  twice  at  that. 

We  went  over  stretches  of  roads, 
which  would  have  put  the  traditional 
rocky  road  to  Dublin  to  shame.  We 
were  finally  stranded  once  more  on 
the  banks  of  a  creek.  A  mountineer, 
whom  we  had  asked  for  directions, 
had  given  us  fair  warning.  "Why,  you 


can't  go  through  there,"  he  said,  "1 
tried  it  this  morning  on  my  mule,  and 
he  got  into  the  mud  and  quick  sand 
up  to  his  belly,  and  I  had  to  prize 
him  out  with  a  fence  rail."  "Come  on, 
let's  go,'  said  our  driver,  and  here  we 
were,  with  the  machine  up  to  the  same 
point  in  its  anatomy  that  the  mule  had 
been,  and  some  yards  from  the  creek 
itself,  which  must  yet  be  crossed. 

Help  was  near,  however,  for  across 
the  stream  a  gang  of  men  with  a  pair 
of  oxen  were  already  at  work  on  the 
roads.  One  of  us  crossed  over  as  best 
he  could  and  asked  the  driver  to  go 
over  to  our  aid,  which  he  promptly 
did. 

Oxen   Thouglit  The   Devil   Was  After 
Them. 


Backing  up  to  the  machine,  he  hook- 
ed on  and  whipped  up  his  cattle.  They 
couldnt  budge  the  machine,  and  the 
driver  was  for  giving  it  up.  "Wait  a 
minute,"  said  Mr.  Pipkin,  and  sending 
Mr.  Hallman  to  the  rear  to  push,  he 
suddenly  turned  on  full  power  at 
low  gear.  The  oxen  jumped  as  if  they 
thought  the  devil  himself  was  after 
them,  and  yanked  us  out  of  the  sand 
bar,  and  with  ox-power  ahead,  gasoline 
power  in  the  center  and  man  power 
behind,  we  splashed  through  the 
creek  over  a  high  sandbar  on  the  other 
side,  through  another  mudhole  and  so 
to  terra  firma  again. 

We  drove  down  more  hills,  pushed 
up  others  by  man  power  and  gasoline 
power,  we  crossed  flooded  bottoms, 
through  mud,  quicksand  and  creeks. 
At  one  place,  once  a  road,  but  now 
the  bed  of  the  stream,  we  rode  up  the 
stream  over  the  rough  stones  for  a 
hundred  yards  and  finally,  coming 
down  a  long  hill  to  a  crosisng  on  the 
C.  &  O.  R.  R.  we  found  the  road  abso- 
lutely blocked  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  track. 


SHOWING  MOUNTAIN  SLIDE  COMPLETELY  COVERING 
UP  SOUTHERN  RAILROAD.  THIS  OCCURS  NEAR  OLD  FORT 
AND  WAS  AWAY   FROM   ANY     STREAM. 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


41 


Calling  across  the  fields  to  a  farmer 
we  were  told  of  another  road  about 
half  a  mile  down  the  track  which 
could  be  reached  by  a  wide  detour. 
Our  intrepid  driver  said  he  could  beat 
that,  and  sending  two  of  our  party 
ahead  to  flag  any  possible  work  train 
and  leaving  me  behind  as  a  rear 
guard,  he  turned  his  machine  down 
the  railroad  track,  and  rode  the  ties, 
bobbing  up  and  down  like  a  rabbit, 
until  he  came  to  the  other  road 
half  a  mile  away,  when  he  called  in  his 
flagman  and  we  all  jumped  in,  "And 
the  little  old  Ford  went  a  running 
right  along." 

We  asked  Mr.  Pipkin  what  he  would 
have  done  if  there  had  been  a  high 
trestle  with  no  ballast  between  the 
ties,  and  he  replied  he  would  have 
slipped  off  his  tires,  jacked  up  his  car 
car  on  the  rails  and  rode  the  track 
on  the  rims,  and  knowing  our  man,  we 
have  no  doubt  he  would  have  done  it. 

Soon  we  pulled  into  a  little  village 
about  six  miles  out  of  Marion,  and  as 
the  "shades  of  night  were  falling  fast" 
we  did  not  care  to  take  chances  in  the 
dark,  and  stopped  for  the  night. 

Reached   Marion   Wednesday   Morning 
— Learn®  of  Destruction. 


Early  next  morning  we  were  off 
for  Marion,  arriving  without  adventure 
about  8  o'clock.  We  found  over  200 
people  marooned  there  on  the  last 
train  down  from  Asheville  on  the  pre- 
vious Saturday,  and  it  was  now  Wed- 
nesday morning.  The  water  supply  of 
the  town  was  off  and  the  electric  light 
system  was  also  out  of  commission, 
and  supplies  reported  getting  scarce. 
A  car  of  ice  cream  marooned  on  the 
track  offered  cold  comfort  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  town. 

Among  the  Charlotte  people  we  met 
were  Mr.  W.  C.  Dowd,  Mr.  Ralph  Van 
Landingham  and  family,  Rev.  J.  Q. 
Adams  and  Mr.  Frank  Harty.  Also  Sen- 


ator Webb,  of  Asheville.  and  Dr.  W. 
W.  Moore,  of  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary, who  had  been  scheduled  to 
preach  on   Sunday  at  Charlotte. 

Learning  here  that  not  only  was 
there  no  tain  to  Asheville  but  be- 
yond the  three  mile  limit,  not  even 
any  wagon  roads  or  bridges,  we  left 
our  grips  at  the  garage  with  cards 
attached  and  jumped  into  our  car  for 
the  last  three  miles,  where  we  much 
regretted  to  part  with  our  automobile 
engineers,  and  started  for  the  moun- 
tain  on   foot. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Lindsay,  of  Durham,  was 
still  with  me,  also  Mr.  Roy  C.  McNeill, 
of  the  Consolidated  Engineering  Com- 
pany, of  Baltimore,  who  wished  to  get 
to  Asheville  and  decided  to  og  with  us. 

My  personal  baggage  from  here  on 
comprised  a  safety  razor,  a  pocket 
comb,  and   a   fountain   pen. 

The  scene  just  above  Marion  was  a 
wild  one,  acres  of  tall  trees  between 
the  highway  and  the  river  bed,  where 
the  flood  had  passed,  being  bent  over 
like  a  corn  field  after  a  hurricane. 
There  were  holes  in  ihe  highway  in 
which  you  could  drop  several  automo- 
biles with  room  to  spare,  a  large  iron 
county  bridge  at  this  point  being  quite 
badly  wrecked.  We  followed  the  high- 
way, or  what  was  left  of  it,  until  we 
struck  the  railroad  again  and  followed 
this   to   Greenlee. 

Bridge  Approaches  All  Gone — Ties  and 
Rails    Swinging. 

When  we  came  to  the  large  steel 
bridge  over  the  river  approaching  this 
place,  we  had  our  toughest  experi- 
ence. The  bridge  itself  was  standing 
all  right  on  its  piers,  but  50  feet  of 
the  approach  had  been  absolutely 
washed  away,  leaving  the  rails  swing- 
ing in  the  air  with  the  ties  still  hang- 
ing to  them,  but  sagging  in  the  cen- 
ter of  the  section  about  four  feet,  and 
twenty  feet  above  the  river  below.  1 


42 


THE   NORTH  CAROLINA   FLOOD, 


have  walked  many  a  high  trestle  in  my 
younger  days  and  it  would  have  been 
no  special  trick  to  walk  the  ties  on 
this  swinging  section  of  track,  but  the 
ties  were  in  bad  shape,  some  of  them 
loose  and  hanging  by  a  single  spike 
and  we  were  afraid  to  trust  them.  We 
learned  afterward  that  a  German  cit- 
izen  had   crossed  just  before   us.   He 
was   asked   if   the   bridge     was     still 
standing,  and  he  replied     "Yes,  but  i 
possumed  da  rail."  This  was  what  we 
had    to    doy    Those    who    know    the 
graceful  position  of  a  possum  on  the 
limj  of  a  tree  this  will   be  perfectly 
clear,   but   as   some   readers   may   not 
understand,  I  would  state  that  to  "pos- 
sum" a  rail,  one  must  get  down  on  all 
fours,   and   walk  the   lower   flange  of 
the  rail  with  his  toes  pointed  in  from 
each  side  while  he  walks  the  top  of 
the  rail  on  his  hands.  Mr.  Lindsey,  as 
stated,    weighs    two    hundred    pounds, 
and    Mr.    McNeill,    the    Baltimore    en- 
gineer, was  six  feet  two  in  height  and 
as   slender  as   a   fence   rail,   and   the 
picture    we    presented,    as    we    "pos- 
sumed"  the   rail   in   single   file,   must 
have   been     more     picturesque     than 
graceful.  The  position  was  too  much 
for  me,  doubled  up  like  a  jack  knife, 
walking  a   slippery   rail,   with   visions 
between    the    ties    of    a    twenty    foot 
drop  into  the  river,  and  it  got  just  a  lit- 
tle bit  on  the  nerves  of  all  of  us,  and 
presently  we  changed  the  order  of  our 
going.  We  dropped  on  our  knees,  not 
to  pray,  although  it  seemed  an  oppor- 
tune time,  and  with  the  rail  between 
our  knees,  so  that  if  the  tier  fell  from 
under  us,  we  would  still  have  the  rail 
between  us  and  the  river,  we  walked 
the  fifty  feet  on  our  knees  over  the 
ties,  and  on  our  hands  on  top  of  the 
steel  rail. 

If  any  one  thinks  this  mode  of  trav- 
el is  a  joke  on  a  hot  July  day,  there 
are  still  plenty  of  opportunities  over 
this  line  of  railway  to  try  it. 


Still  Another  Crossing   Made  on  Tie» 
and  Rails. 


We  reached  the  bridge  and  walked 
the  beams  to  the  other  end,  only  ta 
find  that  the  worst  was  still  to  come. 
Another  section  of  the  track  about  ^^ 
feet  in  length,  and  swinging  twenty 
feet  above  fbe  river,  now  confronted 
us,  with  a  still  greater  sag  in  the 
center,  and  with  also  a  number  of  the 
ties  gone,  some  places  two  or  three  at 
a  stretch.  We  had  come  too  far  to  go 
back,  it  was  now  but  a  comparatively 
few  miles  to  the  end  of  our  journey. 
It  was  case  of  "Pike's  Peak  or  Bust. ' 
and  again  dropping  on  our  knees,  and 
one  at  a  time,  we  took  the  ties  as  be- 
fore. When  we  reached  the  vacant 
places  where  the  ties  had  dropped  off, 
we  stretched  out  at  full  length  along 
the  rails  till  we  could  reach  the  next 
tie  ahead  and  gracefully  pulled  our- 
selves across  the  gap  on  our  stomachs, 
with  a  very  striking  view  of  the  river 
below,  until  we  were  safely  over  the 
ties  again,  when  we  proceeded  on  our 
knees  once  more. 

When  we  reached  the  opposite  em- 
bankment, we  were  fully  ready  to  quit. 
Mr.  Lindsey  with  his  extra  weight,  and 
entirely  unaccustomed  to  out-of-doors 
exercise,  was  "all  in."  He  was  fairly 
purple  in  the  face  and  his  tongue  was 
hanging  out,  and  he  sank  down  beside 
the  track  with  the  exclamation,  "This 
captures  my  Angora."  After  a  brief 
rest  we  took  the  track  again  and 
nothing  fazed  us  any  more,  for  we 
walked  many  a  high  trestle  with  the 
supports  partly  knocked  out  and 
many  a  swinging  section  of  the  track 
much  higher  in  the  air,  but  as  the  ties 
were  still  firmly  spiked  to  the  rails,  we 
didn't  even  stop  to  consider  the  mat- 
ter. 

On  the  right,  between  Greenlee  and 
Old  Fort,  a  mountain  range  parallelled 
the  track  some  distance  away.  There 


THE    NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


43 


were  four  distinct  slides  visible  on 
this  mountain  where  rock,  trees  and 
earth  had  slid  down  the  mountain 
from  top  to  bottom,  leaving  great  red 
gashes  as  if  made  by  some  gigantic 
plough. 

Half    of     Beautiful     Greenlee     Valley 
Farms  Ruined. 


About  half  of  the  beautiful  farm- 
ing land  in  Greenlee  valley  is  abso- 
lutely ruined.  Arriving  at  Old  Fort 
about  1  p.  m.  we  had  a  good  ainner 
and  about  half  an  hour  rest.  Also,  by 
good  fortune,  we  ran  across  a  moim- 
taineer,  Mr.  W.  P.  Denny,  coming  to 
Old  Fort  for  provisions  and  whose 
home  was  out  at  Ridge  Crest  near  the 
top  of  the  mountains,  and  who  cheer- 
fully volunteered  to  guide  us  up  the 
mountain.  He  steered  us  clear  oi 
many  hard  places,  although  we  had  all 
the  experience  we  needed  before  we 
got  to  the  top. 

The  main  part  of  Old  Fort  escaped 
much  damage,  but  the  new  section 
west  of  the  railroad  was  pretty  badly 
wrecked,  the  river  changing  its  course 
and  now  flowing  through  the  center  of 
this  section  of  the  town. 

The  first  striking  sight  we  noticed 
just  as  we  got  out  of  town,  was  a 
church  located  on  the  side  of  a  hill. 
A  landslide,  and  a  small  one  at  that, 
had  come  down  the  mountain  and 
banged  up  against  the  rear  end  of  the 
church  crushing  in  the  whole  rear 
wall,  bulged  out  its  sides,  tilted  its 
steeple  to  one  side,  like  a  man  with 
his  hat  over  one  eye,  and  there  it 
stood  a  complete  wreck. 

Not  Only  Railroad     But  Entire  Foun- 
dation Gone  for  a  Mile. 


Around  the  next  turn  we  came  to 
the  river,  and  a  complete  picture  of 
destruction  was  before  us.  Not  only 
the  railroad  but  its  very  foundations 


had  been  swept  away  for  the  best  part 
of  a  mile.  Some  of  the  track  is  buried 
under  tons  of  sand  and  rock,  then 
rises  over  a  solid  wedge  of  trees  and 
stumps,  then  swings  gracefully  down 
in  a  long  loop  over  the  river  to  an 
embankment,  then  disappears  again 
entirely.  From  here  to  the  top  of  the 
mountain  at  the  entrance  of  Swanna- 
noa  tunnel  there  is  one  continual 
scene  of  destruction.  At  some  places 
track  and  foundations  have  dropped 
entirely  into  the  river,  heavy  con- 
crete abutments  are  in  some  cases 
broken  and  the  track  sagging  down, 
several  sections  of  track  suspended 
in  midair  anywhere  from  twenty  to 
sixty  feet,  simply  the  rails  and  ties 
being  left,  the  fills  having  gone  from 
under  them,  and  in  other  places  slides 
down  the  mountains  covering  the 
track  absolutely  out  of  sight  with 
mud,  gravel  and  rocks. 

When  we  reached  the  first  tunnel, 
not  far  from  Old  Fort,  we  found  the 
heavy  sill  of  a  house  across  the 
mouth  of  the  tunnel,  and  it  was  evi- 
dent that  the  flood  had  not  only  filled 
a  thirty  foot  gorge,  but  had  fiowed 
through  the  tunnel.  "That's  the  sill 
of  this  man's  house,"  said  our  guide, 
jerking  his  thumb  toward  another 
mountaineer  who  had  joined  us  at 
Old  Fort  on  his  way  home  with  a  sack 
of  fiour  on  his  shoulder,  and  later  on  . 
when  we  had  parted  company  with 
the  man  he  told  us  the  story  as  fol- 
lows: 

"I  knew  when  I  waked  up  Sunday 
morning  after  a  terrible  rain  all  night 
that  there  would  be  trouble  down  at 
his  house,  and  my  fourteen  year  old 
girl  was  down  there  helping  his  wife, 
as  there  was  a  three  days'  old  baby  in 
their  home.  I  peered  over  the  cliff 
when  I  came  near  enough  and  looked 
down  on  their  house.  One  end  of  it  was 
partly  under  water  and  the  other  end 
on  the  rocks,  just  a  teetering  up  and 


44 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


down,  ready  to  go  down  stream  at  any 
minute. 

"They  had  all  left  the  house,  and 
the  mother,  too  weak  to  stand,  was 
sitting  on  a  rock  with  the  water  part- 
ly gonig  over  her.  The  man  with  the 
baby  in  his  arms  was  standing  by, 
and  also  my  own  girl  was  there.  I  hur- 
ried down  the  mountain  and  got  a  few 
neighbors,  went  down  to  the  convict 
camp,  got  the  superintendent,  who 
brought  along  a  coil  of  rope,  and  we 
hauled  them  out  of  there.  We  found 
a  pair  of  old  wheels  and  rolled  the 
woman  to  a  place  of  safety." 

The  house,  a  two-story  one,  is  still 
hanging  there  on  the  rocks,  the  little 
mountain  farm  surrounding  it  abso- 
lutely gone,  and  the  stream  has 
changed  its  bed  to  the  other  side  of  fbe 
house  from  where  it  originally  flowed, 
so  that  the  house  can  probably  be  oc- 
cupied. 

"Wait    and    I    Will    Show    You    Some- 
thing"  Said    Mountaineer. 


We  kept  exclaiming  at  the  various 
sights,  and  each  time  our  mountaineer 
guide  would  say,  "Just  wait  and  I  will 
show  you  something."  Just  above  the 
convict  camp  and  not  far  above  An- 
drews Fountain  or  Geyser,  which  has 
ceased  to  spout,  we  climbed  out  oi 
the  gorge,  over  a  high  embankment 
and  came  to  a  section  of  the  new  auto- 
mobile highway,  which  we  followed 
around  the  mountain  for  a  short  dis- 
tance. As  we  rounded  the  last  curve, 
our  guide  exclaimed,  "Now  look,  there 
it  is,"  and  they  lay  before  us  a  ter- 
rible scene  of  destruction.  A  section 
of  the  mountain  nearly  three  hundred 
feet  wide  had  slipped  out  from  under 
the  Southern  railroad,  leaving  the 
track  sixty  feet  in  the  air  with  all  the 
ties  attached,  hanging  in  a  deep 
graceful  loop  from  crag  to  crag.  Close 
by  another  slide  about  100  feet  in 
width  had  occurred,  carrying  with  it 


the  roadbed,  rails,  ties  and  all.  The 
two  slides  had  merged  just  where  the 
new  automobile  hignway  crossed  and 
the  combined  avalanche  had  cut 
through  this  new  highway  like  sa 
much  cheese  and  had  gone  thundering 
down  the  valley  fully  three  hundred 
feet  below. 

This  slide  has  carried  with  it  the 
supply  pipe  to  the  geyser  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountain,  and  we  saw  one  sec- 
tion of  the  pipe  sticking  out  the  side 
of  the  gorge.  This  was  the  most 
startling  sight  on  the  entire  trip,  and 
our  mountaineer's  description  of  it 
was  most  striking.  He  said,  "They 
tell  me  a  cloudburst  did  it,  but  I  was 
just  coming  down  the  mountain  and 
saw  it  done,  and  was  very  nearly 
caught  in  the  slide.  That  water  did 
not  come  from  above,  it  came  from  be- 
low. The  trees  on  the  side  of  the 
mountain  just  popped  right  out  Ly  the 
roots,  with  the  water  spouting  after 
them,  and  the  whole  mountain  just 
busted  wide  open  and  slid  down  into 
the  valley  below." 

I  believe  he  was  correct  in  his 
theory.  The  ground  had  soaked  in  au 
the  water  it  could  hold,  down  to  bed 
rock,  and  the  pressure  underneath  the 
soil  on  the  side  of  the  mountain  had 
become  so  great  that  this  under- 
ground reservior  simply  burst  out  and 
carried  everything  before  it. 

It  now  began  to  rain  heavily  again, 
which  we  found  decidedly  refreshing 
after  the  heat  of  the  day.  About  two 
miles  up  the  side  of  the  mountain,  we 
came  to  the  guide's  home.  Mr.  Lin- 
dey  was  completely  exhausted,  as  we 
had  made  fully  2u  miles  that  day  un- 
der conditions  I  have  described.  We 
helped  him  into  a  buggy  standing  un- 
der a  shed,  and  he  lay  back  on  the 
cushions  and  our  guide  went  on  up  to 
his  house.  Soon  his  two  little  girls 
came  trotting  down  with  a  big  can  of 


SCENE  AT  TOP  OF  THE   MOUNTAIN  ON  SOUTHERN  RAILWAY 
No   streams   near.    Deluge   of   water   down    the    mountains   car- 
ried  away   railroad   ties   and  roadbed. 


THE    NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


45 


buttermilk,  and  soon  after  our  guide 
appeared  leading  his  mule,  saddled 
and  bridled,  and  ^•ith  true  mountain 
hospitality  proceeded  to  refresh  us 
with  the  buttermilk.  "We  then  helped 
Mr.  Lindsey  on  the  mule  and  led  us 
a  mile  higher  up  the  mountain  where 
the  bottom  dropped  out  of  the  road 
again  because  of  another  slide,  and 
the  guide  and  mule  turned  back.  It 
now  only  about  two  miles  to  Ridge 
Crest,  and  on  a  very  easy  grade,  and 
we  all  succeeded  in  pulling  it  through 
to  that  point,  where  we  left  Mr.  Lind- 
sey to  join  his  family,  and  the  two 
of  us  struck  out  to  Black  Mountain 
two  miles  away,  going  over  more 
swinging  sections  of  the  track  be- 
tween Ridge  Crest  and  Black  Moun- 
tain. 

Looking  Like  a  Tramp  Reaches  Destin- 
ation— Slips  In  Back  Door. 


I  left  Mr.  McNeill  at  Gresham  Hotel 
and  started  off  the  remaining  2  1-2 
miles  to  Blue  Ridge  in  the  dark. 
Reaching  there  about  9  p.  m.,  soakea 
with  the  rain,  spattered  with  mud,  and 
without  a  collar  and  with  shoes  about 
gone,  I  sneaked  into  the  basement 
door  of  Robert  E.  Lee  Hall,  and  found 
my  way  up  to  Dr.  Weatherford's  office, 
and  sent  his  assistant  Mr.  Jenkins,  to 
notify  my  wife  I  had  arrived.  She 
thought  he  was  playing  a  joke  at  first, 
but  he  finally  persuaded  her  to  come 
to  the  office,  and  after  being  intro- 
duced and  finally  convinced  that  the 
tramp  who  stood  before  her  was  the 
man  to  whom  she  was  legally  tied,  she 
asked  me  how  in  the  world  I  got 
there.  I  replied  if  I  should  tell  her 
what  I  had  done  and  what  I  had  seen 
within  the  last  two  days,  she  would 


set  me  down  as  the  greatest  liar  in 
North  Carolina,  but  that  I  would  tell 
her  tomorrow  after  getting  rested. 

After  resting  a  day  and  telling  my 
story  to  a  number  of  Y.  M.  C.  A.  sec- 
retaries and  speakers  at  Blue  Ridge 
several  parties  were  organized  to 
tramp  down  a  few  miles  on  the  moun- 
tain to  see  some  of  the  sights  I  had 
described.  Among  them  Dr.  Brown, 
of  Vanderbilt  Universitj,  and  Dr. 
Kent  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  On 
their  return  to  Blue  Ridge,  after  wit- 
nessing the  sights  on  this  division  of 
the  Southern  Railway,  they  told  me 
they  would  be  perfectly  willing  to  sign 
a  blank  sheet  and  let  me  fill  in  any 
description  I  could  possibly  make,  for 
it  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate 
the  story  of  what  they  had  seen.  So 
if  any  of  your  readers  see  fit  to  ques- 
tion this  story.  I  refer  them  to  these 
well-known  gentlemen  and  to  any 
number  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretaries 
who  made  the  trip  down  the  moun- 
tain. In  coming  up  the  day  before, 
our  mountaineer  guide  had  avoided 
the  tunnels  so  I  had  not  seen  condi- 
tions there  until  this  return  trip. 
None  of  the  five  tunnels  at  the  top  of 
the  mountain  had  caved  in,  as  had 
been  reported,  for  I  have  been  through 
or  over  every  one  Ci  them. 

There  have  been  land  slides  near 
the  entrances  of  two  or  three  of  them, 
so  that  in  one,  some  of  the  party  wa- 
ded through  up  to  the  waists  in  the 
water,  and  in  the  next  tunnel  t"/''  wa- 
ter had  banked  up,  in  one  place  eight 
feet  deep,  and  two  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
men  swam  through  it.  One  slide  be- 
tween two  of  the  tunnels  had  c  ied 
away  the  entire  railway  fill  to  such 
depth  that  a  telegraph  pole  was  hang- 
ing by  its  wires  adjoining  the  track, 
and  the  butt  of  the  pole  was  fully  15 
feet  above  the  ground. 


46 


THE  NORTH  CARO'UNA  FLOOD. 


Starts  on  Return  Trip  Monday — Takes 
First  Train  Since  Flood. 


On  Monday,  the  24th,  I  started  for 
a  return  to  Charlotte,  taking  the  first 
train  since  the  flood  out  of  Black 
Mountain  to  Asheville,  and  witnessed 
the  destruction  at  Azalea,  Swannanoa 
and  Biltmore,  which  at  the  first  named 
place  is  almost  beyond  description. 
The  railroad  to  Hendersonville  being 
still  out  of  commission  I  went  down 
by  auto  twenty-five  miles  and  spent 
the  night  with  Mr.  A.  J.  Draper,  at 
Flat  Rock,  who  has  also  a  very  lively 
experience  to  relate  about  his  trip 
from  Charlotte  to  Flat  Rock. 

Early   the   next   morning,   the  very 


first  train  since  the  fiood  from  Hen- 
dersonville to  Saluda,  carried  m©  to 
that  point,  where  I  stopped  at  Mr.  S. 
B.  Tanner's  residence  to  get  the  latest 
news  from  Charlotte.  From  there  I 
tramped  the  ten  miles  down  Saluda 
mountain  to  Tryon,  caught  a  train  at 
5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  for  Spar- 
tanburg, and  at  8  o'clock  took  train 
40  for  Gastonia  and  came  over  on  the 
first  ferry  at  7  o'clock  Wednesday 
morning,  and  reached  Charlotte  on 
the  P.  &  N.  the  third  day  after  leaving 
Black  Mountain,  this  trip  ordinarily 
taking  six  hours,  and  so  completed  the 
most  strenuous  "week-end"  trip  to  the 
mountains  that  I  shall  probably  ever 
experience. 


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Bat  Cave  and  Chimney  Rock  Catastrophe 

{Reprinted from  The  Charlotte  ^ews 


"Not  in  another  hundred  years, 
could  a  like  disaster  happen  to  the 
Bat  Cave  region,  no  matter  how  heavy 
the  rains,"  said  W.  S.  Fallis,  chief 
engineer  of  the  state  highway  com- 
mission, in  Asheville  after  walking 
twenty-five  miles  through  the  heart  of 
the  Blue  Ridge  devastated  by  the 
floods  of  July  16. 

Mr.  Fallis,  with  Wade  M.  Patton, 
another  of  the  state  highway  engi- 
neers, and  just  finished  his  inspection 
of  the  damaged  highway  through  the 
Bat  Cave  country.  This  inspection 
was  made  in  accordance  with  instruc- 
tions wired  him  by  Governor  Locke 
Craig. 

Many  Gaps. 


"Out  of  the  seventeen  miles  of  the 
highway,"  said  Mr.  Fallis,  "possibly 
five  miles  will  have  to  be  rebuilt. 
There  are  many  gaps  of  from  200  to 
300  feet  in  length  absolr  ely  gone. 
The  bridges  are  all  out.  The  terrific 
mountain  slides  were  responsible  for 
most  of  the  damage  and  loss  of  life. 

"The  greater  part  of  the  damage 
was  caused  by  the  mountain  slides.  1 
suppose  I  saw  the  effects  of  more 
than  300  of  these  slides.  They  ap- 
peared to  have  started  close  to  the 
top  of  the  mountains.  For  a  dis- 
tance of  possibly  from  seventy-five  to 
200  feet  in  which  they  removed  every- 
thing clear  and  clean  in  their  paths. 
It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  con- 
vey any  idea  of  the  terrific  force  of 
these   slides.    Everything   movable   in 


their  path  was  swept  to  the  river  be- 
low. Trees  were  denuded  absolutely 
of  every  vestige  of  bark.  Rocks  were 
ground  smooth.  Buildings  were  car- 
ried away  in  the  irresistible  rush.  Na- 
ture had  been  long  preparing  the 
mountains  for  the  catastrophe,  and 
not  for  a  hundred  years  could  such 
another  disaster  happen  to  the  moun- 
tains there,  no  matter  how  hard,  or 
how  long  it  might  rain." 

For  long  stretches,  said  Mr.  Fallis, 
the  river  gorge  is  not  more  than  one- 
eighth  of  a  mile  in  width,  with  many 
sheer  walls  1,200  feet  and  more  high. 
During  the  storm  from  this  narrow 
gorge  an  inferno  of  noises  escaped  to 
the  starless  sky  above — and  men  who 
never  before  have  known  fear  felt  its 
cold  hand  clutch  their  hearts  that 
night. 

For  nature  once  more  reveled  in  all 
her  ancient  and  elemental  strength. 
Tne  outcry  of  the  river's  torrent;  the 
indescribably  heart-shaking  crashes 
of  the  mountain  slides,  one  after  the 
other;  the  steady  and  never  ceasing 
downpour  of  rain,  were  segments  of 
a  symphony  of  the  gods  enraged — and 
the  theme  of  that  elemental  sym- 
phony was  death  ?nd  destruction. 

A   Mountain   Tragedy. 


The  highway  engineer  speaks  of  one 
slide,  which  starting  slowly  close  to 
the  summit  of  the  mountain,  carried 
away  the  home  of  E.  B.  Huntley.  In 
that  mountain  home  were  the  father, 
the   mother,  and  their  two     children. 


XLVII 


48 


THE  NORTH  CAROUNA  FLOOD. 


Lights  were  burning  there,  for  their 
cheer  was  needed,  and  around  the 
hearthstone  before  a  smouldering  fire 
were  gathered  the  little  family.  From 
below  came  the  never-ceasing  clamor 
of  the  infuriate  driver  hurling  un- 
imaginable masses  of  water  and  rocks 
against  the  mountainside.  Outside  a 
world  in  the  making,  with  not  a  star 
in  the  heavens  nor  a  gleam  in  of 
light.  The  rain  came  in  sheets,  beat- 
ing against  doors  and  windowpanes. 
Outside  utter  desolation  and  things 
they  knew  not  of.  Inside,  warmth, 
light,   fancied   security. 

But  suddenly  above  the  outcry  of 
the  river  below  was  heard  a  still  more 
terrific  tumult  above  them,  on  the 
side  of  the  mountain.  It  stilled  all 
other  noises,  and  with  it  came  shocks 
which  shook  the  dwelling  and  the 
world  upon  which  it  rested.  Closer 
and  closer  came  that  crashing  horror, 
and  almost  before  the  family  knew  of 
its  coming  it  was  upon  them. 

The  man  of  the  house  staggered  to 
the  door — opened  it — and  in  some 
fashion  or  another,  stumbled  outside. 
Before  his  little  family  could  follow, 
and  they  possibly  did  not  understand 
even  then  why  they  should  leave  that 
protecting  glow  of  the  smouldering 
fire  for  the  utter  blackness  of  a  new 
world  outside  the  slide  had  torn  their 
home  from  where  it  had  rested  for 
many  years,  and  hurled  it  over  and 
over  again  much  as  a  child  tosses  a 
pebble. 

Helpless  to  Aid. 


The  husband  and  father,  clinging 
desperately  to  a  tree  just  outside  the 
path  of  the  slidi,  as  helpless  to  aid 
or  to  save  as  a  new  bom  babe,  watch- 
ed with  brain  reeling  his  home  with 
the  lights  still  gleaming,  go  hurtling 
down  the  mountain  towards  and  into 
that  torrent  of  turbulent  fury  below. 


whose  roar  seemed  to  intensify  in  an- 
ticipation of  still  more  victims. 

The  man  lived — is  still  living — but 
needless  to  say  that  so  long  as  time 
shall  last  with  him  never  will  he  for- 
get that  vision  of  sudden  death  which 
deprived  him  of  all  that  was  most 
dear. 

The  mother  was  found  later,  close 
to  the  brink  of  the  river.  She  was 
hanging,  head  downwards,  with  one 
foot  caught  in  the  crotch  of  a  tree. 
The  children  were  found  later,  too. 
Mother  and  children  now  rest  in  a 
common  grave,  close  by  a  laurel 
thicket  near  where  their  home  once 
stood. 

The  path  of  the  slide  is  cleared  of 
all  vegetation  to  the  living  rock.  Not 
a  blade,  a  bush,  a  tree  remains.  In 
many  instances  so  terrific  was  the 
force  of  that  rush  of  earth  and  rocks 
that  it  possessed  the  characteristics 
of  a  glacier,  and  groun  '.  the  very 
rocks  themselves  smooth.  Multiply 
this  three  hundred  times,  in  greater 
or  less  degree  and  the  effects  of  these 
slides  in  the  heart  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
mountains  may  be  grasped,  say  those 
who  have  returned  from  that  country. 

In  one  case,  at  the  home  cf  J.  M. 
Flack,  the  slide  came  down,  carried 
off  the  earth  upon  which  rested  the 
pig  pens  of  the  owner  of  the  farm 
carried  pigs  and  pen  to  the  bottom  of 
the  mountain  and  there  co-*  ered  them 
up  under  masses  of  rock  and  eartn. 
But  the  next  day  the  hogs  had  rooted 
themselves  free  of  their  prison  an  . 
are  now  none  the  wors  for  their  ex- 
perience. 

In  another  instance,  says  Mr.  Fallis, 
the  torrent  excavated  all  the  dirt 
from  around  an  eighteen-foot  well, 
leaving  the  well  high  and  dry  above 
the  surrounding  ground  with  its  stone 
walls  still  intact.  Instead  of  a  well 
it  is  now  a  column  of  stone  set  in  the 
midst  of  a  boulder-strewn  field. 


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THE   NORTH   CAROONA  FLOOD. 


49 


Speaking  specifically  of  still  anoth- 
er instance  of  the  floou  s  pranks,  the 
engineer  refers  to  a  field  completely 
covered  with  large  and  small  bould- 
ers. This  was  once  a  fertile  five-acre 
patch  of  corn.  It  is  now  covered 
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The  Tragic  Story  Of  Bat  Cave. 

Nowhere  was  destruction  more  ap- 
palling, more  sudden  and  complete, 
and  loss  of  life  more  horrible,  than  m 
the  famous  Bat  Cave  and  Chimney 
Rock  section; 

Capt.  John  T.  Patrick,  well  known 
as  a  promoter  of  big  enterprises  in 
North  Carolina,  and  inrecent  years 
identified  with  development  at  Chim- 
ney Rock,  arrived  in  Asheville  trom 
the  latter  point  Wednesday  having 
walked  from  Chimney  Rock  to  ii'air- 
view,  and  coming  from  the  latter  place 
in  a  buggy.  Capt.  Patrick  arrived  at- 
tired in  overhalls,  and  wearing  but 
one  shoe,  all  his  clothing  and  other 
belongings  having  gone  in  the  rush  or 
the  Rocky  Broad  river,  which  had 
played  havoc  with  both  lives  and  pro- 
perty in  all  that  section. 

Captain  Patrick  said  the  storm 
there  began  Friday,  torrents  of  rain 
falling  so  heavily  that  one  could  see 
only  a  few  yards.  The  destruction  be- 
gan Saturday,  and  not  only  was  the 
rain  heavier  there  than  on  this  side 
the  mountain,  but  the  destruction  was 
vastly  greater  in  proportion  to  tbe 
number  of  homes  and  business  enter- 
prises involving. 

"By  6  o'clock  Saturday  afternoon," 
said  Captian  Patrick,  "the  river  was 
in  full  flood,  and  building  after  build- 
ing was  swept  away,  not  only  on  tn© 
lowlands,  but  even  on  the  mountain 
water  filling  every  low  place  and  ev- 
sides,   where   there   were   torrents   ol 


en  pouring  like  waterfalls  down  the 
channels  30  and  40  feet  deep,  from 
summit  to  valley.  The  landslides 
were  numbered  by  scores,  25  to  isou 
feet  in  width,  sweeping  boulders  ana 
full  grown  trees  before  them. 

"Seven  persons  are  known  to  have 
lost  their  lives  in  the  floode,  at  Chlm- 
eny  Rock  and  vicinity.  In  one  case 
a  dwelling  was  torn  away  in  which 
was  a  young  woman  and  two  children. 
The  children  were  saved,  but  the  body 
of  the  young  woman.  Miss  Stacey 
Hill,  was  found  far  below  the  site  or 
her  dwelling,  laying  head  down,  her 
foot  caught  in  the  crotch  of  a  tree. 

"The  horrors  of  that  night  cannot 
be  told.  The  rain  fell  in  such  solid 
masses  that  one  seemed  to  be  under 
a  waterfall,  and  it  not  only  imder 
mined  houses  but  actually  tore  them  to 
pieces.  The  noise  of  the  rain  was 
like  continuous  thunder,  added  to 
the  roar  of  the  river  and  the  shock 
of  the  mountain  sides  literally  crash- 
ing into  the  valleys.  It  was  in  tact  a 
cataclysm,  such  as  these  mountains 
have  probobly  not  experienced  in  re- 
cent geographical  periods.  The  forces 
of  nature  setting  themselves  to  a  gl- 
ganic  movement  simply  paralyzea 
anything  that  man  could  do  and  lit- 
erally stunned  imagination.  The  peo- 
ple who  went  through  that  awful 
night  can  never  forget  the  shock 
of  it. 

"Throughout  the  night  there  were 
hours  of  horror,  and  when  daylight 
came  the  worst  scene  of  desolation 
ever  viewed  in  the  mountain  became 
visible.  The  river  began  to  recede,  at 
times,  and  then,  strange  to  say, 
would  suddenly  rise  again,  walls  or 
water  coming  down  the  river  like  an 
ocean  tide,  with  the  thunderous  noise 
of  waves  beating  on  a  rocky  coast. 
The  greatest  height  of  the  water  was 
reached  at  between  10  o'clock  and 
midnight  Saturday  night 


50 


THE  NORTH  CAROUNA  FLOOD. 


"At  Bat  Cave  every  store  was  car- 
ried off.  The  utter  destruction  of  tne 
river  wiped  out  everything.  The  river 
has  widened  to  two  or  three  times  its 
usual  width.  Only  houses  built  deep 
in  the  mountain  sides  are  standing 
at  Bat  Cave. 

"The  state  has  had  for  months  a 
special  force  of  convicts  building  a 
splendid  highway  between  Asheville 
and  Rutherfordton  through  the  Hick- 
ory Nut  Gap.  Great  stretches  of  this 
are  obliterated.  Bridges  and  high 
banks  of  earth  have  been  replaced  by 
holes  in  the  ground.  The  aspect  or 
the  valley,  in  many  respects  one  oi 
the  most  scenic  in  North  Carolina, 
has  been  in  many  respects  changed. 

Captain  Patrick  places  the  known 
dead  at  seven,  but  says  there  may  be 
more. 

Mrs.  B.  E.  Huntley,  of  Bearwallow 
mountain,  Middle  Fork  creek,  has 
been  found  and  buried,"  said  Captain 
Patrick.  Her  children,  God  buried. 
Their  bodies  were  not  found.  Miss 
Stacey  Hill  was  literally  knocked 
from  her  home  on  the  side  of  the 
mountain.  Two  childern  in  the  house 
saved  themselves.  Issac  Connor,  a 
very  old  man,  was  at  Tilton  Freeman  s 
home.  They  left  their  house  to  go  to 
the  bam  which  seemed  to  be  on  a 
safer  site.  Water  undermined  the 
barn,  and  as  they  hurried  back  to  the 
house  the  old  man  got  seperated  from 
them  and  was  drowned  in  the  Hood, 


and  a  baby  of  Freemen,  in  it's  motH- 
er's  arms  was  torn  from  her  grasp» 
lost  and  never  found." 


Dr.  L.  B.  Morse,  who  arrived  at  Hen- 
dersonville  Tuesday  night  after  walk- 
ing with  great  difficulty  from  Chimney 
Rock,  stated  that  the  island  at  Chim- 
ney Rock  was  completely  gone.  All 
bridegs  between  Hendersonvilie  and 
Bat  Cave  and  Chimney  Rock  were 
gone.  Mr.  Morse  walked  for  18  hours 
to  reach  Hendersonvilie  and  was  one 
of  the  first  to  bring  news  from  the 
Chimney  Rock  and  Bat  Cave  section. 

According  to  Dr.  Morse  the  flood 
situation  at  these  places  was  alarming 
among  the  buildings  destroyed  were 
the  village  stores. 

Relief  parties  were  organized  at 
Hendersonvilie  and  started  for  Bat 
Cave. 

Telephone  connection  with  Bat 
Cave  and  Chimney  Rock  was  impossi- 
ble Many  telephone  and  telegraph 
wires,  including  those  to  Fairview 
and  small  villages  along  the  Swanna- 
noa  river  which  were  operating  for  a 
short  period  last  night  were  down. 

The  Asheville-Charlotte  highway 
near  Bat  Cave  and  the  scenic  road 
from  the  main  line  to  the  base  oi 
Chimney  Rock  was  completely  washed 
away.  Dr.  Morse  was  one  of  the  owners 
of  the  sceinic  road  which  is  reported 
to  have  cost  $25,000 


FLOOD  SCENES  AT  ELKIN. 
(1)  Southern  depot  nine  feet  under  water.  (2)  Blanket  mills 
of  Chatham  Mfg.  Co.,  half  submerged.  Car  loaded  with  blankets 
was  driven  through  lower  end  of  this  mill.  This  and  water  dam- 
aged mill  $100,000.  (3)  The  mill  after  the  water  went  down.  Force 
of  men  who  have  been  cleaning  out  mud  and  wreckage,  headed 
by  president  H.  G.  Chatham  (standing  fourth  from  left)  and  Capt. 
G.  T.   Roth   (on  left  end,  wearing  black  vest.) 


The  Yadkin  River,  Flood  and  Destruction 


(By  W.  M,  BELL 


This  Yadkin  river  rises  in  Grand- 
lather  Mountain,  near  Boone,  in 
Watauga  county.  It  is  an  innocent 
looking  spring  branch  for  several 
miles  down  the  mountain  side.  Other 
branches  and  brooks  flow  into  it 
and  as  it  passes  Patterson,  it  begins 
to  be  a  good  sized  creek.  Down 
through  "Happy  Valley"  it  gathers 
other  water;  still  it  is  not  so  large 
that  the  old  time  foot  log  has  to  be 
discarded  as  a  mode  of  crossing. 
At  Elkville,  in  the  extreme  northern 
part  of  Wilkes  county  it  gets  within 
the  river  class  and  a  few  miles  far- 
ther on  it  is  fed  by  Reddies  river 
above  North  Wilkesboro.  Here  it 
gets  its  first  boost.  A  peculiarity 
of  this  stream  is  that  all  of  its  tribu- 
taries flow  from  the  north  side. 
On  the  south  side  the  valley  is  not 
so  wide,  being  cut  off  by  the  Brushy 
mountains  and  only  small  streams 
empty   into   it   from   this    side. 

Twelve  miles  below  North  Wilkes- 
boro, Roaring  river,  a  treacherous 
stream  formed  in  the  mountains 
from  three  forks,  known  as  North, 
Middle  and  South  Fork,  empties  into 
the  Yadkin.  At  Elkin,  eight  miles 
farther  south  the  Elkin  creek,  a 
good  sized  stream,  but  called  a  creek, 
contributes  its  waters.  Between  El- 
kin and  Donnaha,  a  distance  of  about 
forty  miles,  Mitchells,  Fish  and  Ar- 
ratt,  rivers  empty.  These  rivers 
head   in   Alleghany    county   and    flow 


down  through  Surry  county  for  from 
fifteen  to  thirty  miles.  The  Yadkin 
has  a  flow  through  Wilkes  county 
of  thirty-two  miles;  it  is  the  line  be- 
tween Surry  and  Yadkin  and  Yadkin, 
Davie  and  Forsyth  counties.  It  is 
also  the  dividing  line  between  David- 
son and  Rowan,  Stanley  and  Mont- 
gomery counties.  At  Rockingham 
before  reaching  the  South  Carolina 
line  the  name  of  the  Yadkin  changes 
to   the   Great   Peedee. 

Former  Flood  Stages. 


Prior  to  July  16,  1916,  the  Yadkin 
river  had  never  with  a  single  excep- 
tion been  known  to  be  higher  at 
floodtide  than  twenty  feet.  On  Sep- 
tember 23  1898,  a  cloudburst  in  the 
mountains  on  the  north  bank  caused 
a  flood  tide  of  thirty-two  feet.  Twen- 
ty years,  before  when  engineers  made 
a  survey  of  the  Richmond  &  Danville 
Railroad  (now  a  branch  of  the  South- 
ern) the  highest  water  marks  were 
twenty  feet.  The  railroad  was  locat- 
ed five  feet  higher.  In  those  days 
rains  would  fall,  and  heavy  rains,  for 
possibly  two  weeks.  The  river  would 
rise  gradually  and  reach  its  crest 
several  days  after  the  rain  had  ceas- 
ed and  would  be  an  equal  length  of 
time  getting  back  to  normal.  The 
country  had  been  developed  and 
built,  since  the  building  of  the  rail- 
road, on  the  same  basis  as  the  rail- 
road  grade. 


LI 


52 


THE   NORTH  CAROUNA  FLOOD. 


Railroads    Touch    River   at    Donnaha. 


The  North  Wilkesboro  branch  of 
The  Southren  Railway  from  Winston- 
Salem  strikes  the  Yadkin  river  valley 
at  Donnaha  and  for  more  than  sixty 
miles  it  traverses  the  valley  follow- 
ing the  river  bank,  in  some  places 
the  river  water  flowing  along  at  the 
foot   of   rock   fills. 

From  North  Wilkesboro,  following 
the  river  for  more  than  twenty  miles. 
The  Watauga  &  Yadkin  Railroad  is 
in  course  of  construction,  its  objective 
point  being  some  point  in  Tennessee. 

On  July  16,  1916,  after  three  days 
of  heavy  rains,  developing  into  cloud- 
bursts in  the  mountains,  the  Yadkin 
and  its  trubutaries  went  on  the  ram- 
page. The  river  rose  and  rose  rapid- 
ly, to  a  height  of  forty-one  feet  at 
Elkin  and  at  some  places  where  the 
valleys  were  not  so  wide,  a  higher 
mark  than  this  was  reached. 

Back  in  the  mountains  where  the 
natives  live  in  the  valleys  in  num- 
bers of  places  great  slides  of  earth 
gave  way  and  completely  submerged 
homes,  farms  and  vegetation  down 
below  causing  untold  loss  of  life. 
Down  the  valleys  the  waters  swept 
every  thing  before  them.  When  the 
Yadkin  river  was  reached  the  water 
carried  toll  amounting  to  millions 
of  dollars  along  in  its  wake. 

The  Watauga  &  Yadkin  Railroad, 
allready  experiencing  hardships  in 
getting  on  a  sound  financial  footing 
was  wrecked  and  washed  away  al- 
most beyond  repair. 

The  Southern  Railway  all  the  way 
from  North  Wilkesboro  to  Donnaha 
was  damaged  to  an  amount  hard  to 
estimate.  It  was  forced  to  suspend 
trafic  entirely  for  ten  days  and 
it  will  be  months  and  perhaps  a  year 
before  the   roadbed  and   bridges  will 


be  in   as   good  shape   as   before  the 
flood. 

North    Wilkesboro    Hard    Hit. 


North  Wilkesboro,  the  largest  town 
on  the  river  was,  perhaps,  most 
damaged.  Located  at  this  town  is 
the  half  million  dollar  tanning  plant 
of  C.  C.  Smoot  &  Sons.,  Co.  This 
plant  was  wholly  submerged  and  in 
addition  to  property  damage  the 
company  lost  thousands  of  dollars  in 
hides  and  tan  bark  which  were 
washed  away.  The  Shell  Chair  Co., 
was  a  heavy  loser,  and  numbers  of 
lumber  mills  and  much  lumber  also 
were  greatly  damaged  and  washed 
away.  No  loss  of  lives  was  record- 
ed at  this  town  but  there  were  many 
narrow  escapes  and  rescues.  At 
Ronda,  and  Roaring  river  great  dam- 
age was  done.  At  Elkin  the  heaviest 
loss  was  at  the  blanket  mill  of  the 
Chatham  Manufacturing  Co.  The  wa- 
ter overflowed  the  mill,  doing  more 
than  $100,000  damage.  A  car  load 
of  blankets  on  the  mill  siding  was 
moved  from  the  track  and  swept 
half  way  through  the  main  mill 
building.  livery  stables,  machine 
shops,  and  everything  located  below 
the  railroad  at  this  town  was  either 
damaged  or  washed  away  entirely. 
Several  homes  were  eight  and  ten 
feet  in  water  and  a  number  of  homes 
ocupied  by  colored  people  entirely 
washed  away.  No  loss  of  life  was 
reported  from  this  town.  At  Burch, 
Crutchfield,,  Rockford,  Siloam  and 
Donnaha,  small  towns  along  the 
river  great  damage  was  done.  The 
Southern  Railway  was  also  a  heavy 
loser  at  all  stations  along  the  line 
to  Donnaha  by  its  freight  stations 
being  under  water  causing  damage 
to   freight   in   storage. 


DURING    THE    FLOOD    AT    ELKIN. 

(1)  Bridge  street  looking  south.  On  either  side  of  this  street, 
where  the  water  is  seen,  rows  of  dwellings  were  swept  away.  (2) 
Front  street,  bridge  floating  and  E,  &  A.  railroad  completely  under 
water.  (3)  Roller  mill,  half-mile  from  river,  and  above  the  railroad, 
nine  feet  under  water. 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


53 


Damage    to    Farms    Great. 


The  damage  in  the  towns  along 
the  line  hardly  compares  with  the 
damage  to  farms  and  bottom  lands. 
Many  of  these  wide  bottoms  were 
filled  with  growing  corn  and  tobacco. 
These  crops  were  swept  away  and  in 
many    instances    the    whole    bottoms 


were  carried  along,  leaving  only  sand 
and   gravel. 

Long  after  the  outside  world  ceases 
to  talk  about  this  great  flood  that  fell 
with  one  quick  swoop  on  these  poor 
unfortunate  people  of  the  mountains 
and  swept  away  their  savings,  their 
homes,  and  their  farms,  many  of 
them  will  be  still  struggling  hard  for 
mere  existance. 


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The  Flood  At  North  Wilkesboro 


B^  ARTHUR  T.  ABERNATHY 


As  Moloch  devouring  the  inno- 
cents; like  the  Ganges  feeding  on 
the  bodies  of  breast-bereaved  babes; 
like  as  Herod  slaying  Isreal's  first- 
born, so  did  the  once  peaceful,  placid 
Yadkin,  lashed  into  a  maddened  fury 
and  hounded  on  by  the  Reddies  and 
Elk  trubutaries,  devour  in  its  rabid 
rage  as  it  ran  amuck  of  the  fertile 
Yadkin  Valley  in  the  most  devastat- 
ing flood  that  has  swept  Wilkes 
county   in   its   history. 

It  has  been  my  lot  to  witness  some 
harrowing  catastrophes.  Before  the 
floods  had  subsided  I  stood  in  the 
Johnstown  valley  and  witnesed  the 
sickening  spectacle  of  hundreds 
swept  to  their  untimely  graves  by 
the  bursting  dam  that  placed  that 
happy  community  in  the  record-book 
of  disaster.  I  saw  the  North  German 
Lloyd  piers  burn  in  Hoboken,  and 
stood  far  out  on  the  charred  docks 
as  the  Bremen  and  the  Saale  burned 
to  the  water  line,  while  strong  men 
and  heroic  women  cooped  in  their 
boiling  hulks,  crying  to  God  for  a 
succor  that  only  came  in  eternity. 
I  saw  the  Hunt-Wilkinson  fire  on 
Market  street  in  Philadelphia,  where 
sixty-six  hard-working  girls  burned 
into  crisps,  my  very  blood  chilled 
at  the  awful  spectacle  of  girls  mak- 
ing futile  efforts  at  rescue  on  red-hot 
fire-escapes  that  set  their  clothing 
on  fire  and  roasted  them  like  festi- 
vals of  demons. 

But  they  died.  They  found  peace. 

Here  on  the  usually  peaceful  Yad- 


kin, where  men  work  with  an  enter- 
prise that  is  marvelous;  where  thrift 
is  the  household  word  of  every  fam- 
ily, I  witnessed  the  little  homes 
of  families  just  begining  to  see  indus- 
trial hapiness,  caught  in  the  maw 
of  the  awful  storm-god,  and  devoured 
with  unpitying  mercilessness  while 
brave  men  paced  the  river  front 
where  their  all  had  gone  swirling 
by,  and  cried  out:  "Is  there  no  arm 
to  save?  Is  there  no  rescue  for  the 
perishing?" 

Men    Forget    Own    Losses — Save    Wo- 
men   and    Children. 


The  thing  that  melted  me  to  tears 
most  as  I  stood  on  the  stormy  banks 
all  night  playing  the  searchlight  of 
my  automobile  on  the  shaking  build- 
ings where  helpless  mothers  and 
crying  babies  were  marooned  with 
the  fiood  surging  about  them,  was 
the  absolute  indifference  of  the  men 
of  business  to  their  own  losses  in 
the  presence  of  probable  death  to 
the  unfortunate  victims  caught  in  the 
raging  tide.  Mr.  James  D.  Moore, 
a  great-souled  business  man  whose 
plant  had  been  among  the  first  to 
yield  its  toll  to  the  insatiate  greed 
of  the  torrents,  learned  that  two 
young  men  were  about  to  be  carried 
down  in  the  Shell  Chair  Factory,  a 
part  of  whose  buildings  had  already 
been  swept  away.  I  had  just  retired 
to  bed,  wet  and  tired.  Mr.  Moore 
called  me.  "Can't  you  come  with  your 


LV 


S6 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


automobile  and  play  your  powerful 
searchlight  on  the  waters  so  we  can 
save  them?"  The  city  lights  had  al- 
ready been  destroyed.  The  rain  was 
tailing  in  a  sheet  of  water.  I 
tlressed  in  a  pair  of  overalls — the 
only  dry  clothing  I  could  find — and 
started  plunging  down  the  steep 
hill  expecting  every  moment  to  pitch 
headlong  down  the  embankment. 
When  I  plowed  through  the  mud  to 
the  place,  Moore  was  on  the  bank, 
building  boats — utterly  oblivious  that 
he  himself  was  one  of  the  heaviest 
losers  in  the  town.  Soon  Mr.  C.  D. 
Coffee,  perhaps  the  heaviest  local 
individual  loser  by  the  flood,  drew 
up  by  my  side  with  his  automobile, 
and  began  playing  its  light  on  the 
Chair  factory  where  C.  H.  Miller 
and  L.  E.  Stacey,  two  employees  of 
the  Smoot  tannery,  had  become  ma- 
rooned while  swimming  to  the  rescue 
of  Mrs.  Smoot  and  other  ladies  on 
the  tanbark  in  mid  stream.  The  other 
losers  joined  in  the  futile  all-night 
vigil — a  sight  not  to  be  forgotten: 
brave  men,  facing  financial  bankrupt- 
cy, submerging  the  thought  of  their 
material  losses  in  the  dread  pres- 
ence of  the  possibility  of  death  to 
the  victims   of  the   raging  current. 

It  makes  life  worth  the  living  when 
we  realize  that  great  industrial  cap- 
tains place  a  greater  value  on  human 
life  than  on  the  mere  accumulations 
of  property. 

There  was  a  seeming  fitness  in  the 
situation  when  the  Wilkes  county 
fair  grounds  surrendered  their  stately 
structures  to  the  gormandizing  greed 
of  the  seething  maelstrom.  What 
could  a  fairground  be  to  a  people 
bereft  of  their  fertile  farms,  their 
growing  grains,  their  promising 
crops?  These,  too,  had  gone  hurtling 


down  the  valley,  swept  away  in  the 
storm.  Every  iron  and  steel  bridge 
in  the  county  went  with  the  flood, 
except  the  bridge  between  Wilkes- 
boro  and  North  Wilkesboro  which  re- 
mained, as  if  to  knit  us  together  in 
our  common  sense  of  desolation. 

The  manufacturing  and  lumber 
yard  districts  of  this  once  thriving 
community  present  a  sense  that 
would  sicken  the  stoutest  heart. 
With  mud  two  to  ten  feet  deep  in 
many  places,  and  millions  of  feet 
of  lumber  entirely  destroyed,  the  two 
rivers  seemed  to  lap  their  tongues 
for  more  food  and  leaped  from  their 
accustomed  courses,  tearing  across 
farms,  private  lawns,  fertile  flelds 
and  manufacturing  districts  until  for 
awhile  it  seemed  as  if  the  entire 
lower  part  of  North  Wilkesboro 
would    be    engulfed. 

I  cannot  enumerate  the  individual 
losses.  Neither  can  I  describe  the 
details.  Let  it  suffice  to  say.  no  pen 
can  exaggerate  them.  Five  persons 
of  whom  we  know  sacrificed  their 
lives  to  the  fiood  in  this  community. 
Othrs  I  believe  will  be  discovered, 
for  already  vultures  hover  over  much 
o  fthe  debris  down  the  railroad 
track,  which  itself  proved  as  fragile 
as  an  egg-shell  before  the  impetous 
storm.  Carnegie  medals  should  be 
given  the  two  Martin  boys,  Oscar 
and  Augburn,  for  acts  of  personal 
heroism  as  sturdy  as  ever  Mucins 
Cordus  did  in  the  days  of  the  Ro- 
mans. They  swam  the  stream  at 
its  height,  brought  in  shivering  men 
and  fainting  women,  until  they  were 
exhausted  by  their  efforts.  North 
Wilkesboro  will  build  again.  No 
havoc  can  stay  the  progress  of  such 
a    sturdy    people. 


In  Wilkes  County  After  The  Flood 


SyJOHN  C  STERLING 


The  territory  I  covered  embraces 
the  village  of  Roaring  river,  the 
river  front  of  North  Wilkesboro,  and 
a  portion  of  the  northwestern  section 
of  the  county,  known  as  the  Reddies 
River  scetion.  This  river  and  its 
tributaries  were  followed  as  far  as 
possible  toward  their  head  in  the 
Blue    Ridge    mountains. 

The  conditions  I  found  were  far 
beyond  my  expectations.  The  ter- 
rible havoc  wrought,  the  untold  suf- 
fering that  has  followed,  especially 
among  the  women  and  little  children, 
and  the  great  damage  done  to  the 
county  of  Wilkes  must  be  seen  to  be 
comprehended  in  their  true  light. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  have  as 
my  companion  on  the  trip  up  Red- 
dies  River  Mr.  C.  E.  Jenkins,  a  hard- 
ware merchant  of  North  Wilkesboro. 
He  is  known  by  and  knows  most  of 
the  people  in  his  county  and  the 
roads,  paths  and  trails  are  famil- 
iar to  him. 

Start    Up    Reddies    River. 


We  got  away  from  North  Wilkes- 
boro at  7  o'clock  Thursday  morning, 
(July  27)  headed  toward  the  Reddies 

NOTEJ— This  story  is  a  part  of  a  re- 
port made  by  Mr.  Sterling  to  the  Re- 
lief Committee  of  Winston-Salem.  Mr. 
Sterling  was  sent  out  by  the  com- 
mittee to  investigate  the  conditions  of 
those  in  need  of  assistance  in  Wilkes 
county.  Mr.  Sterling  is  a  member  of 
the   Winston-Sentinel   staff. 


river  head.  This  river  is  comprised 
of  what  are  known  as  the  North 
Fork,  the  Middle  Fork  and  the 
South  Fork.  They  all  come  together 
about  twelve  miles  from  Wilkesboro, 
near  what  is  known  as  Deep  Ford. 
One  route  led  up  the  river  for  a 
mile  or  more,  then  across  the  ford, 
and  followed  the  Miller's  Creek  road 
to   Deep   Ford. 

Following  up  the  river  we  came  to 
the  Jefferson  turnpike,  and  up  the 
turnpike  for  a  short  distance.  Then 
up  the  river  to  near  Whitington's 
store  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river.  From  this  point  to  the  head 
of  North  Fork  we  followed  the  river 
bed,  there  being  no  road  from  this 
point  into  the  mountain  coves  and 
valleys. 

Farms   Valuable   Before  The   Flood. 


The  stream  traverses  a  ravine  be- 
tween the  mountain  ranges.  The  val- 
ley almost  all  the  way  is  very  nar- 
row, only  litle  pieces  of  ground  being 
available  for  cultivation.  These  lit- 
tle bottoms,  however,  before  the 
flood,  were  vrey  productive,  and 
even  away  up  in  there  were  worth 
from  $100  to  $150  per  acre.  There 
were,  however,  very  few  tracts  that 
embraced  as  much  as  an  acre.  The 
river  is  hardly  over  50  feet  in  width, 
shallow  in  most  places  and  quite 
swift.  During  the  flood  this  river 
or  creek  extended  from  mountain  to 
mountain,  and  so  swift  was  the  cur- 


LVII 


58 


THE    NORTH  CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


rent  that  it  turned  almost  the  entire 
valley  for  miles  and  miles  into  a 
river  bed  leaving  nothing  but  sand 
and  rocks.  The  road  up  this  way- 
had  followed  the  river's  bank,  and 
of  course  when  the  banks  went  so 
did  the  road.  From  Whittington's 
store  up  as  far  as  we  were  able  to 
get,  a  distance  of  eight  miles,  we 
were  in  the  old  road  only  about  150 
feet.  The  other  part  of  the  journey 
was  made  up  the  bed  of  the  river, 
or  across  fields,  pastures,  woods  and 
thlskets.  We  crossed  and  recrossed 
the  stream  time  and  again.  Some 
of  these  fords  are  very  treacherous, 
not  only  being  deep  but  having  more 
or  less  quicksand  on  the  bottom. 

The  people  on  this  fork  of  the 
river  have  very  small  farms  in  cul- 
tivation. They  own  more  or  less  of 
the  surrounding  mountains,  but  they 
are  too  steep  for  cultivation.  The 
principal  agricultural  product  of  this 
section  is  corn,  but  they  also  raise 
wheat  (about  enough  to  furnish  them 
bread,)  quite  a  lot  of  Irish  potatoes 
and  each  and  every  family  has  (or 
rather  did  have)  a  nice  little  garden 
which  was  very  productive.  Quite 
a  lot  of  the  people  in  the  northwest- 
em  section  of  the  country  are  engag- 
ed a  part  of  the  year  in  getting  out 
tan  bark  and  roots  and  herbs. 


Big   Lumber   Flume   Wrecked. 


The  big  lumber  flume  followed  this 
stream  for  about  25  miles,  but  this 
flume  is  a  total  wreck,  and  it  is  said 
it  will  not  be  rebuilt,  as  the  score  or 
more  saw  mills  have  been  washed 
away  and  the  desirable  timber  pretty 
well  exhaused.  The  flume  was  ca- 
pable of  transferring  250,000  feet  of 
lumber  daily   from  the   mills  up  the 


river  to  the  company's  plant  in  North 
Wilkesboro. 

There  were  several  small  grist 
mills  on  this  stream,  but  every  one 
of  them  was  washed  away.  We 
found  several  little  stores  that  had 
escaped  destruction,  but  these  stores 
had  very  little  food  stuff  on  hand. 

There  were  a  number  of  dwelling 
houses  washed  away  or  demolished 
on  this  stream.  If  I  am  not  mistaken 
the  number  of  dwellings  destroyed 
numbered  eighteen.  Also  a  number 
of  barns,  cribs  and  other  outbuild- 
ings 

Up  in  this  territory  the  families 
are  very  large.  Litle  healthy  look- 
ing children  are  to  be  seen  in  num- 
bers. They  are  very  simple  people 
in  their  wants  and  they  certainly 
live  the  simple  life. 

River   Bed    Now   Wliere   Roads   Were. 


Crossing  the  mountain  from  the 
North  Fork  we  traversed  the  Middle 
Fork  as  far  as  we  were  able  to  get. 
This  creek  or  river  also  traverses  a 
ravine  or  valley.  The  Jefferson  turn- 
pike follows  this  stream  some  dis- 
tance. The  turnpike,  however,  is 
badly  damaged  and  canot  be  trav- 
ersed farther  than  Vannoy's  store 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  river  has 
washed  the  road  next  the  mountain 
completely  away  and  the  river's  bed 
is  now  where  the  road  once  was. 
About  one  mile  farther  up  the  turn- 
pike leaves  the  river  and  it  is  said 
to  be  in  fair  shape  across  the  moun- 
tain. However,  the  bridges  back  in 
the   mountains   are   gone. 

The  damage  to  the  river  bottoms 
on  the  Middle  Fork  is  not  so  com- 
plete as  we  found  on  the  North  Fork. 
However,  this  river  brought  down 
and  deposited  in  fine  lands  great 
quantities    of    drift    wood    and    other 


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O  J^ 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  FLOOD. 


59 


heavy  rubbish.  Trees,  two  and  three 
feet  in  diameter,  were  hurled  down 
this  stream  for  miles.  One  gentle- 
man estimates  that  there  are  100,000 
loads  of  driftwood  on  his  bottom 
land,  this  gentleman  being  the  only 
man  in  that  section  who  has  a  bot- 
tom that  is  of  any  size.  All  this 
driftwood  will  have  to  be  moved  or 
burned,  as  it  is  worthless. 
Homes,    Stores    and    Mills    All    Gone. 

We  found  that  seven  or  eight 
houses,  several  stores,  mills,  bams 
and  other  outbuildings  were  washed 
away  on  this  stream,  and  the  little 
bottom  tracts  either  washed  away  or 
covered  over  with  a  coat  of  sand 
varying  in  depth  from  six  inches 
to  five  feet. 

Following  a  trail  across  the  moun- 
tain range  we  came  into  the  ravine 
through  which  the  South  Fork  wends 
its  way.  Here  again  we  found  the 
flood's  path  had  ripped  the  valley, 
washed  away  homes,  barns  and  every 
thing  in  its  path. 


Hundreds  of  Land-slides  Caused  From 
Cloud  Bursts. 


There  have  been  hundreds  of  land- 
slides or  waterspouts  on  the  moun- 
tains in  the  section  we  visited.  One 
party  informed  the  writer  that  he 
could  count  54  of  these  slides  from  a 
point  near  his  house.  These  slides 
as  a  general  rule  started  at  or  near 
the  top  of  the  mountains  and  carried 
everything  before  them.  The  width 
of  the  slide  extended  from  25  to  IB© 
yards  and  in  some  instances  were  a 
mile  in  length.  At  the  bottom  of 
the  mountains,  where  they  struck, 
were  to  be  found  immense  holes  in 
the  ground,  and  tons  of  rock  and 
trees  of  all  sizes.  The  natives  re- 
port when  these  slides  are  moving 
they  make  a  noise  similar  to  thunder 
and    come    with    terrific    speed. 

So  far  as  we  were  able  to  learn, 
there  were  two  deaths  from  the 
flood  in  the  Reddies  river  sectoin — 
one  a  little  boy  killed  in  a  landslide, 
and  the  other,  a  woman,  was 
drowned. 


Land  Slide  That  Devastated  Entire  Valley 


Sy  IV.  E.  FINLEY 


One  of  he  freaks  of  the  landslides 
in  the  mountains  of  western  North 
Carolina  was  known  as  the  Jack 
Branch  catastrophe  in  Wilkes  county. 

William  E.  Finley  of  Wilkesboro 
made  a  personal  investigation  of  this 
landslide  and  wrote  as  follows  to  the 
Charlotte    Observer; 

"Yesterday  I  rode  a  horse  to  the 
top  of  the  Brushy  Mountains  In 
Wilkes  county  west  of  Russell's  Gap, 
tied  the  horse  to  a  tree,  and  walked 
down  the  southern  slope  of  Little 
Onion  Knob  to  the  head  of  a  long, 
narrow  ravine,  down  which  flows  a 
small  stream  locally  known  as  'The 
Jack  Branch.'  The  purpose  of  such 
a  journey  was  to  see  for  myself  that 
which  has  been  the  subject  of  con- 
versation among  all  the  people  for 
miles  around  since  the  15th  of  the 
month,  the  big  land-slide. 


would  not  move  the  huge  boulders 
which  are  now  lying  one-half  mile 
down  the  valley  below  where  they 
have  lain  since  somewhere  in  the 
prehistoric  past.  No  one  knows  from 
whence  the  water  came,  but  they  all 
know  it  came,  and  that  with  such 
terrific  force  that  it  broke  loose  the 
solid  rock  from  the  mountain  side, 
leaving  the  ragged  crust  of  the  cliff 
to  fall  in  and  fill  up  the  great  gap 
swept  out  by  the  stream  of  water, 
as  if  the  hammer  of  Thor,  hurled 
from  his  iron-gloved  hand,  had 
buried  itself  in  the  cliff.  No  sooner 
were  these  rocks  broken  loose  than 
they  were  carried  whirling  down  the 
mountain  as  if  Neptune  had  pierced 
the  clouds  with  his  three-pronged  tri- 
dent and  all  the  waters  had  been 
emptied  out  in  the  small  space  of 
300  feet. 


Where    Did   The   Water   Come    From? 


Mountain     of     Rocks     Sweeps     Down 
Mountain. 


'•'No  one  pretends  to  know  just  the 
source  of  a  volume  of  water  large 
enough,  and  with  sufl[icient  pressure 
to  literally  tear  out  the  side  of  a 
granite  cliff  and  hurl  it  with  terrific 
force  far  down  into  the  level  plain 
below.  Every  one  is  asking,  'Whence 
came  this  ocean  of  water?  Was  it 
belched  up  out  of  the  earth,  or  did 
it  pour  down  from  the  clouds?'  But 
no  one  seems  to  know.  If  the  Ca- 
tawba river  were  turned  into  the 
Jack  Branch,  and  the  Yadkin  river 
were  added  for  good  measure,  the 
combined  strength  of  the  two  rivers 


"Beginning  here,  as  abruptly  as  if 
blown  up  by  a  mine,  a  shapeless 
mass  of  debris,  20  feet  high,  swept 
down  the  long  ravine,  groaning, 
grinding,  seething,  surging  to  the 
lowlands,  plowing  up  trees  and  earth 
and  rocks  as  it  went,  and  adding 
them  to  the  great  mass.  Not  only 
was  the  earth  torn  up  to  the  rock 
beneath,  but  the  solid  rock,  kept 
firm  by  the  deep  layer  of  earth  cov- 
fcring  it  was  chiseled  out  like  a 
trough  to  a  depth  of  five  feet  and 
for  a  distance  of  hundreds  of  yards. 
LXI 


62 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


"One  would  .  aturally  suppose  that 
the  heavy  rocks  would  drop  out  of 
the  mass  and  lodge  at  the  foot  of 
the  steep  incline;  but  there  are 
boulders,  dozens  of  them,  weighing 
at  least  10  tons,  lying  one-half  mile 
below  where  they  first  broke  loose, 
which,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  trav- 
eled over  half  the  distance  down  a 
grade  of  not  more  than  five  per  cent. 

"One  who  had  never  seen  this  val- 
ley before  can  only  vaguely  imagine 
the  havoc  wrought  by  this  land- 
slide. As  one  looks  over  the  desert- 
like waste  of  rocks  and  logs  and 
sand,  one  would  never  dream  that  a 
week  ago  it  had  been  a  green  valley, 
darkened  by  the  shade  of  trees 
whose  branches  were  bending  under 
their  heavy  load  of  ripening  fruit. 

"Rocks,  rocks,  rocks!  For  a  dis- 
tance of  more  than  a  half  mile  along 
the  valley,  varying  in  width  to  con- 
form to  the  lay  of  the  land,  there 
are  rocks  ranging  from  the  size  of 
coarse  sand  to  half  the  size  of  a 
Pullman  sleeper.  They  are  piled  and 
packed  and  jammed  together  in  ugly 
confusion  over  all  the  valley  to  a 
depth  of  from  three  to  ten  feet.  If 
one  should  venture  to  say  that  a 
train  of  30  cars,  loaded  by  1,000 
men,  could  not  haul  the  rock  from 
this  valley  and  pile  them  up  a  mile 
away  in  12  months;  or  if  one  should 
say  that  a  carload  of  dynamite,  all 
exploded  at  once,  could  not  break 
loose  so  many  rocks,  he  would  doubt- 
less be  thought  to  use  hyperboles. 
But  one  will  be  convinced  that  either 
statement  would  be  conservative 
when  one  stands  on  the  ground — or 
rocks,  and  sees  for  one's   self. 


Remarkable   Feature. 


"A  remarkable  thing  about  the 
behavior  of  the  land-slide  in  Its 
course  is  the  fact  that  it  did  not 
always  seek  the  lowest  ground.  For 
instance,  there  lies  a  mulberry  tree, 
stripped  of  its  bark  and  limbs,  on 
the  side  of  the  hill  in  the  path  of 
the  slide.  It  has  been  torn  out  by 
the  roots  and  mashed  to  the  ground. 
Just  across  the  stream  from  it,  and 
standing  on  ground  10  feet  below 
its  level  is  a  lumber  hack  which 
was    left    untouched. 

"There  is  no  sign  left  to  mark 
the  place  of  the  Russel  home  which 
was  knocked  into  splinters  and  swept 
down  the  stream.  A  few  pieces  of 
furniture,  or  rather  bits  of  furni- 
ture, may  be  seen  strewn  along  the 
edge  of  land-slide's  path.  Beyond 
this  there  is  no  indication  that  there 
ever  was  a  house  there.  A  large 
poplar  tree  marks  the  place  where 
Mr.  Russell  and  his  wife,  each  carry- 
ing a  child,  blinded  by  the  mud  and 
water,  beaten  almost  senseless  by 
the  surging  rocks  and  timber,  fought 
their  way  to  safety  some  hundred 
yards  below  where  the  house  stood. 

"Five  centuries  from  now  the 
aged  mountaineers  living  in  that  re- 
gion will  be  telling  the  children  a 
story,  as  tradition  will  have  it,  that 
once  upon  a  time  the  waters  gath- 
ered in  the  mountains  above  and, 
without  warning  burst  out  in  the 
valley  and  carried  death  and  de- 
struction in  its  wake.  The  old  man 
will  become  more  grave,  and  the 
eager  listening  child  will  bend  his 
ear  to  hear  the  story  of  the  three 
children  who  went  down  with  the 
waves  and  of  the  one  who  was  never 
found." 


Staring  Death  For  Twenty-Four  Hours — Saved 


Experiences  of  KILLIAN  and  WHITE 


Mr.  J.  D.  Killian,  resident  engineer 
of  the  Southren  railway  wlio  was 
one  of  the  eighteen  men  who  went 
down  witli  the  bridge  at  Mays- 
worth,  Sunday  afternoon,  and  was 
rescued  after  twenty-four  liours,  by 
the  two  negroes,  Alphonso  Ross  and 
Peter  Stowe,  speaking  of  his  liar- 
rowing  experience,  a  few  days  after 
■wards,  said: 

"When  the  trestle  was  suddenly 
swept  away  I  thought  my  time  had 
come." 

"Tons  upon  tons  of  debris  and  dirt 
of  various  kinds  were  beating  against 
the  steel  structure  and  threatened  to 
carry  it  away  at  any  moment.  The 
remains  of  a  cotton  mill  was  only  a 
part  of  the  debris  we  had  to  contend 
with. 

"A  steam  derrick  assisted  us  in 
our  work.  Several  times  the  derrick 
moved  off  of  the  trestle  to  let  peach 
trains  pass.  However,  the  last  time 
it  moved  off  the  bridge  went  under. 

"When  the  structure  went  down  I 
was  walking  from  the  lower  beams  of 
one  span  to  another.  I  lost  my  hold 
and  dropped  to  the  river,  which  was 
about  40  feet  deep.  I  was  sucked  un- 
der and  thought  I  would  never  reach 
the  bottom.  You  can  imagine  my 
surprise  when  I  suddenly  bobbed  up 
a  few  feet  below  the  trestle.  When 
I  went  under  the  terrific  current 
caught  me  and  shot  me  clear  of 
wreckage.  In  the  meantime  the  steel 
work  of  the  trestle  tottered  over  the 
Tiver,   seemingly   just   enough   to    let 


me  get  by  safely,  before  it  fell. 

"Eighteen  employes  of  the  South- 
ern and  three  linemen  of  the  West- 
ern Union  went  down  with  the  struc- 
ture. Those  who  were  not  killed  out- 
right under  the  impact  of  the  falling 
steel  work  were  in  great  danger  of 
being  hit  by  heavy  pieces  of  debris  in 
midstream.  We  caught  planks  and 
anything  else  we  could  lay  our 
hands  upon,  floated  on  down  the 
river,  catching  hold  of  trees  as  we 
came  to   them. 

"At  this  time  the  water  was  rising 
at  the  rate  of  two  feet  an  hour  and 
just  about  the  time  I  had  setled  my- 
self as  well  as  I  could  in  the  circum- 
stance the  raging  torrent  would  be- 
come too  much  for  the  tree  and  the 
Catawba  would  lift  the  tree  by  its 
roots  and  send  it  on  its  way  to  the 
Atlantic. 

"In  this  way  I  was  forced  to 
change  my  roosting  place  about  eight 
times  during  the  night  and  the  next 
mirning.  Once  I  became  entangled 
in  some  vines  on  a  tree  and  gave 
myself  up  for  a  second  time  when 
the  water  swept  over  it.  Finally  I 
disentangled  myself  and  renewed  my 
struggle    for    life. 

"At  dawn,  H.  T.  Verner,  and  B.  M. 
English,  jr.,  came  to  the  rescue  of 
three  other  men  and  me.  We  were 
in  the  same  tree.  Verner  and  English 
succeeded  in  reaching  us,  overcom- 
ing great  odds,,  but  when  one  of  our 
marooned  party  stepped  into  the  boat 
it    was    overturned    and    was    swept 


LXIII 


64 


THE  NORTH  CAROUNA   FLOOD. 


down  the  river.  So  our  little  tree 
party  was  augmented  by  the  addition 
of    Vemer    and    English. 

"We  were  greatly  wearied  and 
tired  out  by  our  exertions  and  the 
two  young  men  cheered  us  to  renew- 
ed efforts.  There  were  now  six  of  us 
out  in  the  middle  of  the  Catawba. 
About  noon  on  Monday,  after  being 
in  the  water  for  18  hours,  two  ne- 
groes, Alphonso  Ross  and  Peter 
Stowe,  rowed  out  to  us  in  a  flat 
bottomed  boat  and  took  three  of  us 
to  the  shore.  I,  being  in  much  better 
condition  than  the  other  three  men 
who  went  down  with  the  trestle, 
stayed  over  with  English  and  Vemer 
until  the  second  trip. 

"The  negroes  took  the  men  safely 
to  shore  and  came  back  for  us.  They 
told  us  they  would  take  us  to  the 
short  only  upon  one  condition,  and 
that  was  that  we  entrust  ourselves 
entirely  to  them  and  let  them  engin- 
eer the  boat  as  they  saw  fit.  Needless 
to  say  we  agreed  to  the  proposition 
with  alacrity.  After  we  were  taken 
to  the  shore  the  negroes  rescued  an- 
other man  who  was  in  a  tree  about 
two  and  a  half  miles  from  the 
trestle." 

Mr.  Kil]ian  told  of  an  amusing  oc- 
currence out  in  the  river.  One  of  the 
men  who  were  in  the  trees  was  ex- 
tremely nervous  and  on  the  slightest 
provocation  wanted  to  float  down  to 
another  tree.  He  was  in  the  act  of 
jumping  off  the  tree  he  was  in  and 
making  for  a  tree  below  him  when 
suddenly  one  of  his  companions  call- 
ed his  attention  to  a  big  water  moc- 
casin hugging  the  tree  that  was  his 
objective.  He  decided  to  remain 
where  he   was. 


Julius  White,  one  of  the  colored 
men  saved  from  the  river  Monday  af- 
ter 18  hours  in  the  water,  told  his 


story  in  vivid  language,  des- 
cribing the  sinking  of  the  Maysworth 
trestle  and  his  long  night-ride  down 
the  roaring  river  on  rafts  and  logs 
and  trees. 

White  said  that  he  was  working 
near  Supervisor  Griffin  Sunday  after- 
noon, cutting  out  the  debris  from  the 
trestle,  and  that  suddenly  the  trestle 
began  to  sink  down.  It  then  rose 
again  and  about  that  time  there  was 
a  snaping  noise  at  one  end,  "like  all 
the  world  was  coming  to  an  end,'* 
said  White,  "and  then  I  went  under, 
holding  on  to  a  part  of  the  track  ta 
which  I  had  scrambled  trying  to  get 
off  the  bridge.  I  went  under  the  wa- 
ter, it  seemed  to  me,  at  least  40 
feet,   and   then    came    up." 

White  said  that  as  he  came  out 
fin  and  that  the  latter  slowly  shook 
of  the  water  he  saw  Supervisor  Grif- 
his  head  at  him.  What  the  supervisor 
meant  White  did  not  know,  but  both 
were  making  towards  a  raft,  and 
White  says  that  he  held  back  t& 
give  Mr.  Griffin  a  chance,  but  that 
the  latter  suddenly  went  under  the 
comer  of  the  raft,  seemingly  drawn 
under  by  the  surrent  and  was  seen 
no  more.  Then  White  seized  the  raft 
and  held  on  for  his  life,  with  twa 
logs  about  his  body,  hampering  his 
progress.  He  kicked  clear  of  these 
and  then  went  with  the  raft  a  short 
distance,  and  finally  got  a  tree.  For 
six  or  eight  hours  until  nearly  mid- 
night he  clung  to  trees  within  sight 
of  the  trestle,  and  finally  White  says 
"I  shouted  to  the  watchman  that  I 
was  gone,  and  let  go  of  the  tree  I 
was  holding.  I  drifted  down  the  river 
all  night  and  must  have  been  in  forty 
trees  before  daylight  came.  It  was 
the  same  everywhere.  I  would  get  a 
tree,  and  it  would  serve  me  a  little 
while  and  then  I  would  have  to  get 
out  and  drift  on  to  another.  I  got  my 


THE    NORTH    CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


65 


shoes  and  part  of  my  clothes  off  and 
was  thus  able  to  swim  pretty  well, 
but  several  times  when  I  tried  to 
swim  to  the  bank  I  failed  because 
the  current  was  too   swift. 

"After  daylight  there  were  two  lit- 
tle red-birds  that  came  to  the  tree 
where  I  was  perclied,"  said  White, 
"and  1  looked  while  they  seemed  to 
be  studying  me.  When  I  laid  eyes  on 
them  I  said,  'Little  birds,  I'm  going 
to  get  out  of  here,'  and  sure  enough 
it  was  not  long  till  the  white  men 
came  from  the  Gaston  side  in  a  boat 
and  got  me  off  that  tree.  It  was  about 
10    feet    from    the    ground    where    I 


was  perched  that  Monday  morning." 
White  stated  that  he  saw  the  body 
of  a  woman  clad  in  white  floating 
down  the  river  Monday  morning.  He 
was  unable  to  get  a  very  close  view 
of  the  body  but  was  certain  it  was 
that  of  a  woman  apparently  drowned 
for  some  time.  He  also  stated  that  he 
saw  a  cotton  ginning  plant  in  the 
river  and  could  even  see  the  new  ma- 
chinery in  the  building  as  it  floated 
past.  He  wanted  to  get  inside  where 
he  stated  that  it  looked  dry  and  com- 
fortable but  he  could  not  let  go  the 
tree  that  he  was  holding  to  for  his 
life    at   that   moment. 


The  Breaking  of  Lake  Toxaway 

( Reprinted  from  AshevilU  Times) 


A  dozen  times  on  the  fateful  "flood 
Sunday"  the  rumors  went  round  that 
Toxaway  dam  had  broken.  It  did  not 
break  that  day,  nor  that  week,  nor  tbe 
next,  but  Sunday  night,  August  13,  four 
weeks  after  the  great  freshet,  the  dam 
at  beautiful  Lake  Toxaway  gave  way 
to  the  long  season  of  rain  and  higb 
water,  and  the  third  and  greatest  lake 
was  lost  to   western  North  Carolina. 

R.  F.  Williams,  for  years  operator 
and  railway  agent  at  Lake  Toxaway 
wired  the  Asheville  Times: 


The  beautiful  lake  known  as  Lake- 
Toxaway  is  no  more.  On  or  about 
seven  o'clock  Sunday  evening  a  small 
opening  appeared  in  the  dam  and  the 
water  trickled  through  in  a  small 
stream,  which  rapidly  grew  and  in  a 
few  minuets  the  dam  was  doomed. 

Messages  were  sent  to  Asheville  to 
warn  towns  in  South-Carolina  to  look 
out  for  high-water,  as  It  was  feared 
that  great  damage  might  be  done  Dy 
the  rushing  waters.  In  about  fifteen 
minuets  more  the  whole  dam  fell  in 
with  a  mighty  crash.  The  water,  at 
first  clear  as  crystal,  changed  to  a 
muddy  torrent,  as  it  rolled  down  the 
narrow  chasm  that  nature  had  left  be- 
tween hills,  carrying  with  it  debris  or 
all  kind. 

The  electric  power  plant  erected 
several  years  ago  at  a  cost  of  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  which  supplied  the  botel 
and  cottages  with  light  went  down  as 
if  it  had  been  made  of  paper.  But 
the  man  in  charge  of  the  plant  had 


been  warned  and  escaped  by  climbing 
the  side  of  the  mountain. 

In  the  meantime  the  telegTaph  office 
was  a  busy  place,  and  people  began 
pouring  in  to  wire  their  friends  tbat 
they  were  safe.  Much  anxiety  was  ex- 
pressed as  the  people  in  South  Caro- 
lina who  might  be  in  the  path  of  the 
flood. 

Crowds  of  people  watched  the  water 
as  it  poured  through  the  dam.  The 
long  pent  up  water  roared  with  ex- 
plosions as  of  dynamite  as  it  escaped 
behind  the  mighty  dam  that  had  im- 
prisoned it  so  long. 

The  long  continued  rains  during 
the  summer  had  weakened  the  dam 
and  once  an  opening  appeared  it  was 
doomed.  The  hotel  was  not  damaged 
in  any  way  except  by  loss  of  the  power 
plant  supplying  electric  light.  But  the 
owner  of  the  estate  E.  H.  Jennings  ot 
Pittsburg,  Pa,  had  suffered,  serious 
loss  in  the  destruction  of  the  dam 
which  took  months  to  build  and  which 
was  constructed  about  13  years  ago. 

The  cottage  people  were  not  dam- 
aged in  any  way.  Trains  are  running 
regularly  and  number  of  sight-seers 
came  up  to  see  what  remained  of  the 
once  beautiful  lake. 

There  was  no  loss  of  life  the  pro- 
perty loss  can  be  replaced  and  it  is 
planned  to  restore  the  resort  to  its 
former   beauty. 

Just  as  the  dam  was  breaking. 
George  Armstrong  of  Savanah,  (ia. 
came  down  the  lake  in  his  launch,  but 
seeing    the    water    rush    throu,s;h    the 


LXVII 


68 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   FLOOD. 


narrow    opening    in    the    dam    wisely      and  when  the  water  subsided  it  lelt 


turned  around  and  made  up  stream, 
towards  the  opposite  side  near  the 
hotel  and  reached  the  hotel  in  salety. 
He  had  to  abandon  his  boat  at  the  dock 


the  boat  in  a  great  depression  in  the 
lake.  The  lake  is  throughly  dramea 
and  almost  dry  except  for  puddles 
here  and  there. 


Engravings   by 

BIERMAN  ENGRAVING  CO- 

Charlotte,   N.   C. 


CHARLOTTE 

lllllll 

ru's'A.1 


Printed   by 

NEWS   PRINTING   HOUSE 

Charlotte,   N.   C. 


$^&:i^.&MM'^/Wi^.My^^^^^^ 


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